Leader of Al-Fatah: America is pressing to ensure the survival of its forces in Iraq

Information/Baghdad… The leader of the Al-Fatah Alliance, Ali Hussein, confirmed on Thursday that America is trying to impose pressure on Iraq to ensure that its forces remain in the country.

Hussein told Al-Ma’louma, “The government is determined to end the American presence in Iraqi territory, at a time when Washington is making attempts to impose pressure to ensure the survival of its forces.”

He added, “Iraq does not submit to the desires and pressures exerted by America, as it considers whoever opposes it to be a terrorist and is working to liquidate him.”

He stated that “the American presence in Iraq is rejected, indicating that” the American occupier is on his way out of Iraq, with great Iraqi rejection of this presence.

Almaalomah.me

Directing criticism at the Iraqi Central Bank…an economist shows the numbers of banks sanctioned by America

Information/private… The economic expert, Dhia Al-Mohsen, counted the number of banks that were affected by the US Treasury Department’s sanctions, while confirming that the Central Bank of Iraq is in one valley, and the sanctions are “in another valley.”

Al-Mohsen said, in an interview with the Maalouma Agency, that “the banking system, managed by the Central Bank, should have directed sanctions on private banks by itself, and not by the US Federal Reserve.”

He added, “The banks that succeeded the Americans, the management of the Central Bank, has information about them, which operates in violation of the system and instructions of the Iraqi Central Bank regarding private transactions with customers, whether inside or outside the country.”

The economic expert explained, “If the central bank has information about these banks, and the sanctions come from abroad, it seems that the bank’s management is not worthy of managing this important file at the internal or external level of the country, given that the banking system has foreign dealings.”

Al-Mohsen stated, “Since the tenth month of 2023, the American sanctions have affected 14 banks, in addition to the 8 new banks,” pointing out that “these banks represent more than 40%, considering the presence of 72 banks, and this is a large percentage.”

The economist stressed, “This percentage gives an indication that the management of the Central Bank is not concerned with what is happening around it, as if it is in one valley, and the sanctions imposed on private banks are in another valley.”

Earlier today, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken discussed the sanctions imposed by the US Treasury on Iraqi banks.

The US Treasury Department recently imposed economic sanctions on seven Iraqi banks, which were preceded by sanctions on fourteen Iraqi banks, preventing them from dealing in dollars, as the reasons behind imposing such sanctions were not explained.

Almaalomah.me

What should the Central Bank do to avoid further sanctions?

Economist Mustafa Akram Hantoush explained the practical steps that the Central Bank must take to avoid further US sanctions.

Hantoush told “ Jarida ”, “The first step is the platform between Iran and Syria, for the transfer to them to be made through a third country with the approval of the Federal Reserve, and for the traveler to the sanctioned countries to be given money in the currency of those countries, and the borders with the Kurdistan region must be controlled, and transfers must be linked to customs.” and ports (automation).”

He added, “Also, creating a platform for all travelers and making reservations through the Central Bank and not at money exchangers and banks. There are also items such as alcohol, detergents, etc., for which Kurdistan takes a small percentage tax, while Baghdad takes a high percentage, especially gold, which has many problems in Baghdad.” In Kurdistan, it grants licenses easily, so it should be resolved so that the merchant can enter a real platform.”

He stressed, “These steps will address the issue and serve as an argument for the Americans, as the Iraqi banking sector may end within a few months in favor of foreign banks.”

Jaredaiq.net

Observer: Ending the mission of the United Nations office in Iraq takes Iraq out of Chapter Seven!!

Information / Baghdad… Political observer Sabah Al-Ugaili called on Prime Minister Muhammad Shia Al-Sudani to end the work of the United Nations representation in Iraq, indicating that “if this matter were achieved, it would remove Iraq from Chapter Seven.”

Al-Ugaili told Al-Maalouma, “The time is right for Sudanese to ask the Secretary-General of the United Nations to end the work of its representation in Iraq, especially after Plasschaert announced the end of its mission in Iraq.”

He added, “Plasschaert’s request to end its mission and the Chinese representative’s recognition of the existence of a state of political and economic stability in Iraq gives Al-Sudani the opportunity to ask the Secretary-General of the United Nations to end the work of the United Nations office in Iraq, or at least reduce it, and then Iraq will exit Chapter Seven.”

The representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Jeanine Plasschaert, had asked the Secretary-General of the United Nations that it was her mission in Iraq during her periodic briefing at the UN Security Council yesterday, Tuesday.

It is noteworthy that Iraq has been subject since 1990 to Chapter Seven of the United Nations Charter, which was imposed on it after Saddam’s regime invaded the State of Kuwait in August of the same year. This clause allows the use of force against Iraq as it constitutes a threat to international security, in addition to freezing large amounts of its financial assets in Iraq. International banks to pay compensation to those affected by the invasion.

Almaalomah.me

The talk of buying the dollar with a “fake dinar” is repeated in Iraq.. What makes it possible or impossible?

Al-Sumaria News – Exclusive – Over the past years, talk about submitting forged or counterfeit invoices to the Central Bank of Iraq for the purpose of buying the dollar under the pretext of import, was a common thing and was recognized by successive Iraqi governments and all parties concerned with this file. Therefore, but talk about “providing money or an Iraqi dinar Counterfeit” to buy the dollar, something that began to be talked about during the past year only, to be documented in the recent statement of the US Treasury Department.

The US Treasury Department, in its decision published on its official website, regarding the inclusion of the Iraqi Al-Huda Bank in the sanctions list, stated that the bank has been subject, since its establishment, to the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and allows it access to the American financial system using fraudulent documents, fake deposits, identity documents for deceased persons, fake companies, and the Iraqi dinar. Counterfeit, which provides opportunities to hide the identities of the counterparties in the transaction to correspondents, providers of banking relationships, while also indicating that the bank, since its establishment, has smuggled $6 billion from Iraq with fake import documents.

Talk about submitting false documents or invoices for goods and commodities to the Central Bank to buy the dollar from it, and then transferring the dollar abroad without bringing in the corresponding goods, was common and well-known, but the accusation of using counterfeit or counterfeit money to buy the dollar is something worth thinking about and discussing, especially after… It was stated in the US Treasury decision.

What is the reason for talking about the counterfeit dinar?

During the past year, talk emerged from representatives and economic experts about the existence of a counterfeit Iraqi dinar that some parties use to buy the dollar, but the story may be somewhat “unbelievable,” so how does the counterfeit Iraqi dinar pass through the central bank or the black market offices to buy the dollar?

As for the reason for talking about this matter, it appeared when the dollar began to rise significantly in the parallel market, and when the Central Bank no longer sold the dollar to any party, as before, or by approving any questionable invoices. Therefore, these parties went to buy the dollar in a large and multiplied manner from the parallel market, which led to… Due to the rise in the price of the dollar in the market, testimonies emerged from office owners and money exchangers that entities and people come carrying very large sums of Iraqi dinars, all of them in a “new edition,” and buy huge amounts of dollars from the market.

Talking about a new edition, and talking about very huge amounts of money from the dinar, prompted specialists to say that this money is counterfeit, or at least printed for this specific purpose, or printed in Iran, according to some opinions, for the purpose of buying the dollar from the Iraqi market, otherwise where do these entities come from? With this large amount of money (the new Iraqi dinar) and constantly buying huge amounts of dollars every day?

A previous report by Al-Sumaria: 30% of goods were imported in parallel market dollars.

Earlier and a few days ago, Al-Sumaria News published a report comparing the Central Bank’s sales of dollars for the purpose of remittances and imports in 2023, and global data on Iraq’s actual imports, as the bank’s data indicate. The Central Bank said it sold more than $25 billion in remittances in 2023 for the purpose of import, but global data indicate that Iraq imported goods in 2023 worth more than $36 billion.

This leads to the fact that approximately 11 billion dollars went out as remittances outside Iraq for the purpose of import, but not from the Central Bank, but rather were obtained from the parallel market. Here, the huge amount of money or Iraqi dinars through which the dollar was purchased from the parallel market becomes very clear, as it is approximately 17. One trillion dinars went to the parallel market in 2023 for the purpose of purchasing more than 11 billion dollars away from the Central Bank, and this is one of the reasons behind doubt and the logicality of the existence of counterfeit money or dinars through which the dollar is purchased.

Alsumaria.tv

Al-Alaq: We deny issuing decisions to punish a number of Iraqi banks, with the exception of Al-Huda Bank

The Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Al-Alaq, confirmed today, Wednesday, the adoption of a series of decisions aimed at preventing a number of banks and companies from obtaining the dollar, as a result of non-compliance with local and international requirements, while explaining that these measures come within the framework of efforts to enhance compliance with anti-money laundering rules.

Al-Alaq indicated, in an interview with the official agency, followed by NRT Arabia, that there is a difference between including a bank on the sanctions list by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and depriving a bank of dealing in dollars, stressing that this is not a punishment as much as it is an incentive to investigate… Commitment to international standards.

He explained that the concerned banks can correct their conditions to comply with the requirements, and that there is a committee that issues dozens of decisions weekly related to issues of compliance and combating money laundering, stressing that the Central Bank conducts continuous reviews and issues decisions to deprive some banks for reasons related to compliance with instructions and rules.

Regarding reports about US sanctions, Al-Alaq denied the news that spoke of the issuance of decisions by the US Treasury to punish a number of Iraqi banks, explaining that the reports currently relate to Al-Huda Bank and the Chairman of its Board of Directors.

Al-Alaq concluded by stressing that the Central Bank seeks to regulate the external transfer operations of banks, indicating that non-compliant banks will be deprived of obtaining the dollar until they adhere to the standards and achieve the safety of external transfer operations.

NRTTV.com

The US Treasury requests Iraqi cooperation to limit funding for armed factions

Shafaq News / The US Treasury Department suggested, on Wednesday, that it would obtain assistance from the Iraqi government in identifying and disrupting the financing of Iranian-backed armed groups in the country, especially after the killing of three American soldiers, as a result of a drone attack launched by an Iraqi faction.

In news translated by Shafaq News Agency, Reuters quoted a Treasury Ministry official as saying, “The Iraqi government must share information about such groups, especially after the killing of American soldiers in a drone strike.”

He added, “We are now in a situation where there has been a loss of American lives in Jordan.”

The official added, “These, as a whole, are groups that use and abuse Iraq and its financial systems and structure in order to perpetuate these actions,” adding, “We must address this directly.”

He continued: “It is clear that our expectations at the Treasury Department are that there is more that we can do together to exchange information and determine how these militias operate in Iraq.”

The official noted, “In just 12 to 13 months, we in the Treasury Department have witnessed a tremendous amount of Iraqi progress in the areas of preventing the dollar from reaching armed groups loyal to Iran.”

He added, “We are not trying to achieve perfection. This is a difficult area, and Iran is very good at this in particular,” stressing his confidence in “successfully making Iraq meet international standards for money laundering and terrorist financing, and this will lead to the removal of a large amount of unsupported financial capacity.” legitimacy of this system.

Shafaq.com

Zebari expects America to strike three factions in Iraq

Shafaq News / The leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Hoshyar Zebari, expected on Wednesday that the United States of America would target three factions under the banner of the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” in response to the Jordanian attack.

Zebari wrote on the “X – Twitter” website previously, “The upcoming American strikes will be different and devastating against the axis of the Iraqi Islamic Resistance, which is composed of factions: Kataib Hezbollah, Al-Nujaba, and Sayyid Al-Shuhada, who openly targeted American forces and their facilities in Iraq and Kurdistan.” And Syria,” adding that “perhaps their responsible leaders and headquarters are currently against the government’s decisions.”

Yesterday, Tuesday, Iraq’s Hezbollah Brigades announced the cessation of its operations against American forces in order “not to embarrass the Iraqi government,” recommending its fighters to “temporarily passive defense.”

On Sunday, January 28, the US Army announced that three of its soldiers were killed and dozens wounded in a march attack targeting a base housing US forces in Jordan.

American media reported that the targeted site was “Tower 22”, a small military site in Jordan, near the country’s border with Syria.

In response to this attack, American officials said that the United States is considering launching strikes against armed factions in Iraq, Syria, and Iran.

US President Joe Biden said yesterday, Tuesday, that he had made a decision about the nature of the response to the Jordan attack, which killed 3 American soldiers and injured more than 30 others.

Biden explained that he “made the decision on the nature of the response to the attacks that killed American soldiers in Jordan,” adding, “We do not want a broader war in the Middle East.”

Shafaq.com

The American withdrawal from Iraq…fact or illusion?

Samir Daoud Hanoush: In every conversation about a dialogue between Iraq and America, that dialogue provided examples of the manipulation of words and terminology in the use of deceptive rhetoric that carried ambiguous messages and fragmented concepts among the tools of war of minds and hearts.

At a time when the Iraqi Foreign Ministry announced the agreement with the American side to form a committee to begin talks on the future of the American-led military coalition in Iraq to coordinate on a timetable for the gradual withdrawal of forces and end the mission of the international coalition, the statement of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin regarding the work of the working group meetings was The US-Iraqi Supreme Military Committee indicates the continuation of security and military cooperation through a sustainable bilateral security partnership between the United States and Iraq without indicating a withdrawal of American forces, which means the continuation of American influence in Iraq and leads to the inevitable result of postponing the withdrawal or at least calming the situation in the region until The completion of the American elections scheduled to be held in November of this year, which is a gain at a time when America is betting on it to resolve the problems of its elections or the Gaza war.

Despite the seriousness of the government of Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani in drawing a road map to regulate the relationship between the two sides and the Iraqi desire for American withdrawal, it is still a long way off and it is hard work. It is too early to reveal the next steps now, according to Fadi Al-Shammari, Al-Sudani’s political advisor, confirming, adding that the decision will not be a patchwork solution. According to his description.

The American statement indicated that “American military personnel are in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government as part of the Operation Inherent Resolve mission to advise, assist and empower Iraqi security forces in their ongoing fight against ISIS.”

The model of the American statement in which he addressed public opinion considered that the beginning of the Military Committee (HMC) process reflects the development of the bilateral relationship between the United States and Iraq under the Strategic Framework Agreement, which means that the decision does not necessarily include withdrawal from Iraq, but rather leads to achieving a sustainable security relationship and paints a new picture. This relationship is the opposite of what some Iraqis who dream of the occupation forces leaving their country imagine.

The committee’s work, which will begin in the coming days to implement the commitment that the two parties signed during the Joint Security Cooperation Dialogue between the United States and Iraq (JSCD), which was held from (7-8) August 2023 in Washington, D.C., depends on three factors, namely the threat posed by ISIS. And the operational and situational requirements and capacity levels of the Iraqi security forces. Working groups of military experts will study these three factors and provide advice to the Supreme Military Committee (HMC) to ensure that ISIS cannot re-emerge.

It is known that the United States deploys approximately 2,500 military personnel in Iraq to provide advice and support to the Iraqi armed forces to prevent the return of terrorist organizations.

The Washington Post quoted Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh as denying that the Iraqi-American Supreme Military Committee talks announced by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry and the US Department of Defense were related to the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq.

Singh notes that the issue is whether Iraq is prepared to succeed in defending its own security and sovereignty and how the United States can support Iraq in doing so.

According to the newspaper, talks between Baghdad and Washington on the issue of presence were ongoing even before the attack launched by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, which exacerbated the tension between the American forces and the armed factions, while stressing that they are not negotiations for withdrawal.

It was noteworthy, at a time when Iraq was actively starting its dialogue on the future of the military alliance, that the American embassy in Baghdad significantly reduced its staff in conjunction with the Gaza war, which led to the suspension of the issuance of visas to ordinary citizens, as they are currently granted only to high-level government delegations, according to a diplomatic source. With US President Joe Biden intending to nominate Ambassador Tracy Ann Jacobson to the position of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to the Republic of Iraq, instead of Ambassador Elena Romanowski.

The factor of time and procrastination is what Washington is betting on to alleviate the volume of attacks that have begun to increase on its bases in Iraq and to calm the situation, even if only temporarily, until Biden’s chances of winning a second term or leaving the White House are revealed. This is a summary of what is going on in the story of the American withdrawal.

Almaalomah.me

More than $600 million in Iraqi currency auction sales in a week

Shafaq News / The Central Bank of Iraq’s total sales of hard currency to the US dollar during the past week amounted to more than 600 million dollars.

Shafaq News Agency correspondent stated that the Central Bank sold during the last week and for the three days in which the auction opened 674 million 21 thousand and 96 dollars, at a daily rate of 224 million 673 million 698 dollars, lower than what it recorded last week, which amounted to 883 million 860 thousand. And $97.

The highest dollar sales were for Sunday, when sales amounted to 221 million, 898 thousand and 486 dollars, while the lowest sales were for Thursday, when sales amounted to 209 million, 994 thousand and 98 dollars.

Foreign remittance sales during the past week amounted to 575 million 301 thousand and 96 dollars, an increase of 88% compared to cash sales that amounted to 71 million 720 thousand dollars.

The sales were in the form of cash and transfers abroad to finance foreign trade, while the selling price of documentary credits and international settlements for electronic cards reached 1,305 dinars per dollar, while the selling price of transfers abroad and the cash selling price reached 1,310 dinars per dollar.

Shafaq.com