Baghdad seeks to mediate the U.S.-Iran conflict as oil exports cross Hormuz under U.S. protection, with one route carrying 3.2 million barrels daily, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told FRANCE 24.
In an interview published Nov. 13, Hussein said Iraqi oil was traveling through the Strait of Hormuz with U.S. protection. He said shipments along a route near Oman had risen from 2.2 million barrels a day to 3.2 million. Hussein attributed the volumes to Iraq's oil minister and said the route had been operating for about two months.
Hussein said the standoff between Washington and Tehran needed to move toward either peace or war. He said Iraq had been drawn into the fighting involving Iran, the United States and Israel, giving Baghdad a reason to seek a mediating role. “It is our duty to mediate,” he said.
He pointed to Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi's trip to Tehran last week to meet Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's top negotiator and Parliament speaker. Hussein linked the visit to Baghdad's mediation efforts.
On a separate issue in U.S.-Iraq relations, Hussein said Baghdad has not put Washington's demand to keep only two crossings open on Iraq's border with Iran into effect. He said Iraqi officials remain in talks with their U.S. counterparts and called the proposal “not possible.” He said the limit would amount to “a kind of sanction against the Iraqi people.”
The interview follows Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's account that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had directed officials to change their approach to Washington. EconoTimes previously reported on Pezeshkian's account; his remarks did not establish that Tehran's confrontation with Washington had ended.
Hussein said the Iraqi prime minister was leading efforts to bring weapons held by armed groups under state control by June 2027. Some groups had accepted the proposal, he said, and he hoped the others would do so.
