“It is extremely deplorable that the US administration has decided to target the innocent people of Iraq by attempting to deprive them of access to basic services such as electricity, especially ahead of the coming hot months of the year,” Abbas Araqchi said in a post on X on Monday.
“We stand with the Iraqi people and remain firm on our commitment to the Iraqi Government, which we will engage with to repel unlawful US actions,” he added.
Earlier, Washington announced it has revoked the waiver from Iran sanctions that allowed Iraq to import electricity from its eastern neighbor.
In reaction, the chairman of the Iraqi parliament’s finance committee warned that any move by the US to restrict power imports from Iran would cause Iraq’s electrical grid to collapse.
Currently, approximately 80 percent of Iraq’s electricity generation depends on natural gas, making the country heavily dependent on Iranian imports to sustain its power grid.
In July 2022, Iraq signed a five-year contract with Iran to import 400 megawatts of electricity.
In March 2024, another agreement was reached to increase Iranian gas imports to 50 million cubic meters per day, valued at around $6 billion annually.