Former Iraqi Minister of Justice:

🔻 The oil agreement between Baghdad and Erbil is temporary and hasn’t resolved the deep-rooted disputes.

🔻 KRG officials are experienced in leveraging their ties with the U.S. to gain concessions from Baghdad.

Statement:

Hassan al-Shammari, the former Iraqi Minister of Justice, stated that the oil agreement between Baghdad and Erbil is a temporary solution tied to the current phase, especially as Iraq approaches elections. He stressed the need to stabilize the situation.

In an interview with Al-Ahd TV channel, Shammari said the agreement has not addressed the underlying major disputes between the two sides. He also pointed to the potential influence of American pressure, as the U.S. reportedly played a role in facilitating the agreement.

He explained that KRG officials are adept at strengthening their relations with the U.S. to extract political or financial gains from Baghdad.

He further emphasized: Iraq’s current financial restrictions are genuine, not merely excuses, and the country’s internal debt has reached 47 trillion dinars.

Regarding corruption, he noted that the rapid spread of corruption has become a serious challenge, to the extent that it has even affected the position of some political forces, making them reluctant to support the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) law.