“Including Al-Sadr’s withdrawal” .. 3 Iraqi events enhance the Russian presence in the Middle East

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[size=52]“Including Al-Sadr’s withdrawal” .. 3 Iraqi events enhance the Russian presence in the Middle East[/size]

[size=45]The British "Oil Price" website, which specializes in energy issues, considered that three events related to Iraq have occurred in recent days, re-positioning Russia in an advanced position in the Middle East.[/size]
[size=45]The British report stated that these events included either Iran or Iraq, or both, adding that they re-enhanced Russia's role to the fore in the Middle East, at the expense of the United States.[/size]
[size=45]"The actual leader"[/size]
[size=45]The report explained; That these events were first represented by the meetings of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Iranian political and military leaders, including President Ibrahim Raisi, and secondly, the withdrawal of Muqtada al-Sadr, who he described as the “actual leader in the country” and his political bloc consisting of 73 members, the largest, from the Iraqi parliament, And third, agreement on a new roadmap for cooperation between Iran and Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]The report indicated that with regard to the first point, before the United States alone withdrew from the Iranian nuclear agreement in 2018, Russia benefited from the easing of sanctions, to strengthen its presence in Iran, and it was in the energy sector alone before 2018, it concluded exploration and development contracts through Gazprom for the Jangola and Chesmeh-Khosh oil fields, Zarubezhneft for the Aban and Baydar Gharb fields, and Tatneft for the Dehloran field.[/size]
[size=45]He referred to a previous memorandum of understanding between "Lukoil" and the National Iranian Oil Company for studies of the "Ab Taymore" and "Al Mansouri" oil fields.[/size]
[size=45]The report added that the most important thing is the signing of a 22-point memorandum of understanding by Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninya with Russian Deputy Energy Minister Kirill Molodtsov, which included not only studies and exploration and extraction plans, but also gas transportation, petrochemical exchanges and research related to Supplying and marketing petrochemical products and manufacturing oil equipment with local Iranian engineering companies, in addition to transferring technology in the refinery sector.[/size]
[size=45]The report pointed out that the talks at the time, in early 2018, also included the dual use of Iranian ports and airports by Russia for civilian and military purposes, adding that these plans were suspended due to Washington's withdrawal from the nuclear agreement in May of that year.[/size]
[size=45]"Historic Agreement"[/size]
[size=45]However, the concepts of these clauses were later included in the historic 25-year agreement between Iran and China, about which Oil Price published details in September 2019.[/size]
[size=45]As for Lavrov's recent meetings in Tehran last week, the report quoted sources close to the Iranian Oil Ministry as saying that the Russian minister and Ibrahim Raisi discussed expanding cooperation in all fields in line with the original memorandum of understanding (consisting of 22 points), in addition to logistical cooperation. To transport goods including oil, gas and related products, from Iran to Russia and from Russia to Iran.[/size]
[size=45]The sources also made it clear that the talks included the elements of special cooperation with dual civilian and military use, which had been agreed upon four years ago.[/size]
[size=45]The report mentioned the Iranian Foreign Ministry's announcement itself that Lavrov's visit was aimed at expanding cooperation with the Eurasia and the Caucasus region, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Ibrahim Raisi during their meeting on January 19 last, there was an "intensive discussion" about Russia providing Iran with a system S-400 missile defense in addition to Sukhoi-35 aircraft.[/size]
[size=45]"The Iranian Problem"[/size]
[size=45]As for Muqtada al-Sadr in Iraq, the report indicated that in the period prior to his withdrawal from the Iraqi parliament, he was looking forward to forming the first real majority government in the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, through an alliance with Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi. and the Kurdistan Democratic Party.[/size]
[size=45]The report quoted an Iranian source as saying that “the main problem for al-Sadr was that if he succeeded, he would have excluded the coordinating framework controlled by Iran, from any legitimate power of it, as well as Russia, given his strong hatred of any foreign interference in Iraqi affairs.”[/size]
[size=45]The report stated that Russia had mainly controlled the oil sector in the Kurdistan Region since 2017, and was looking to build on that in order to expand its influence in southern Iraq, to ​​form one region as its proxy grouping Iran and Iraq, adding that if Sadr was destined to succeed, al-Sadr would have been This vision is destroyed.[/size]
[size=45]The report quoted the Iranian source as saying that the Kurdish bloc represented by the Kurdistan Democratic Party "was the one who stopped al-Sadr's plan, because it sided with the traditional agreement formula related to the distribution of political positions."[/size]
[size=45]The Iranian source concluded by saying, "For this, we are now back to where we were, where there is no clear strong personality in Iraq, which is exactly the way Iran and Russia want."[/size]
[size=45]Moscow - Tehran - Baghdad[/size]
[size=45]As for the third and final point about the new roadmap for cooperation between Iran and Iraq, the report stated that in the absence of a clear leader on the horizon in Baghdad, Tehran was quick to announce several major initiatives between it and Baghdad.[/size]
[size=45]The report stated that one of the most important means of securing energy throughout the Middle East is to strengthen the control of the energy distribution network, which relates not only to the movement of electricity, but also to oil and gas routes, adding that this idea was the focus of all recent Iranian plans, with the full support of the Kremlin.[/size]
[size=45]The report added that Russia has already seen in Europe the strength that it obtains by making countries dependent on its exports of oil and gas. He added that the United States is aware of the power of authority that Iran enjoys over Iraq, thanks to its continuous supply of electricity and gas.[/size]
[size=45]The report mentioned statements by a government oil official in Iraq that a road map should be prepared for the future steps and goals for Iraq and Iran, pointing out that there is another important issue related to Iranian technology and products, speaking for example about what Iran has high capabilities in many sectors such as power cables, pipes and equipment And modern technologies that can be transferred to Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]The report quoted the Iraqi oil official as saying that the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company dealt with the issue of training and transfer of technology and technical equipment, adding that "the issue of transferring expertise and technology is very important and we must be able to cooperate in this field."[/size]
[size=45]"New Map"[/size]
[size=45]The report concluded by saying that this new roadmap includes clear interrelated aspects “with the package of deals discussed between Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and senior Iranian officials at the end of May, which include energy, agricultural, transport and additional cooperation projects in the financial, banking, oil and gas, petrochemical and energy sectors.” nuclear.[/size]
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