According to Ibena, The agreement comes amid sanctions reimposed on Iran since 2018 which forbid countries from purchasing Iranian energy. U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 exited Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed the sanctions on Tehran.
“We signed a contract with Iraq for exporting electricity in 2020 and 2021,” said Ardakanian, who travelled to Iraq on Wednesday.
“With coordination of the Iranian embassy in Iraq, half of the disbursement worth $400 million was received during the trip,” he added.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in May that Washington will grant a 120-day sanctions waiver for Iraq to continue importing electricity from Iran to help the new Iraqi government succeed.
Ardakanian said Tehran and Baghdad have reviewed a three-year plan for reconstructing the Iraqi electricity industry by the Iranian private sector.
“Iranian technical and expert delegations will visit Iraq next week to sign two important contracts on reducing power grid losses and repairing electricity equipment,” Ardakanian said.
