US not decided on extending Iraq waiver for importing Iran power/The US had urged Iraq to find alternative sources of energy

WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has not made a decision on extending a 90-day US waiver exempting Iraq from sanctions to buy energy from Iran, a State Department spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The State Department said on March 20 it would allow Iraq to keep purchasing electricity from its neighbor Iran for another 90 days without imposing sanctions, but urged Baghdad to find alternative sources of energy.

“The secretary has not made a decision on this,” spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus told reporters.

Iraqi leaders have warned of the risks of war during a visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif last week.

Zarif’s visit to neighbouring Iraq — which is caught in the middle of its two allies, the US and Iran — follows a decision by Washington to deploy 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East.

“We are currently repelling all the efforts of war against Iran, whether economic or military,” Zarif said at a joint news conference with his Iraqi counterpart Mohammed Ali al-Hakim.

“We will face them with strength and we will resist,” he added.

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