Tehran's strategic game. Iran exempts Iraq from navigation restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz

Iraq will be exempt from restrictions on navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian media reported, citing the Central Command of the Iranian Armed Forces. Iraq is highly dependent on oil exports, which account for approximately 90 percent of its GDP. revenues to the state budget.

According to Reuters, the decision of the Iranian authorities shows preferential treatment of Baghdad in a situation of tightening control over the strategic route.

Iranian diplomacy had previously announced that through the strait Ships can pass, among others: from China, Russia, India and Pakistan. In recent days, two Turkish and two Japanese vessels also passed through Hormuz.

Analyst Kenneth Katzman from the Soufan Center think tank said in an interview with Al Jazeera that Iraq has few alternatives to exporting oil from the south apart from Hormuz. Although some raw material may be transported by pipeline to Turkey, most of the production from the Basra region in southern Iraq depends on the route through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran's decision indicates its desire to keep Iraq outside the camp of countries allied with Washington – Katzman emphasized.

Last week, Iraq began exporting crude oil by tanker trucks through Syria to the Mediterranean basin and further to European countries.

The government of Iraq and the authorities of the Autonomous Kurdistan Region reached an agreement in mid-March to resume oil exports to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

However, this solution requires redirecting the raw material from the south of Iraq, from where it was previously exported by tankers, to the north – to the pipeline established on the initiative of Erbil and Ankara and put into operation in 2013.

Before the war began, Iraq produced approximately 4.3 million barrels of oil per day, most of which was exported by sea. (PAP)

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