Hamid Hosseini, the secretary general of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, told Iranian media that Washington has approved the release of some frozen Iranian assets at the Trade Bank of Iraq.
During the visit of the Iraqi Foreign Minister to Washington, the United States granted another sanction waiver and allowed the payment of 500 million dollars from Iraq's electricity debt to Iran, according to Hosseini.
He added, "Iran's money is in a bank that is under the supervision of the United States, and it is only allowed to import goods that are not sanctioned. For example, last year in March, one billion dollars of goods were imported to Iran through this route, and Iran's debt to Turkmenistan was paid from this."
US sanctions have prevented Iran from accessing billions worth of its assets in foreign banks.
Hosseini explained more that "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq has announced to the United States that they owe Iran about $18 billion, while the Governor General of the Central Bank of Iran has announced a lower figure, and the figure of $10 billion was announced previously."
He said that difference in the figures could be because of the Iraq's unpaid bills for new electricity and gas imports from Iran.
He said that 4,000 megawatts of Iraq's electricity is supplied by Iran annually.
The Iranain trade official said given the growing trend of exports to Iraq this year, it is expected that Iran's exports will hit a new record high of more than $9 billion.
MP/IRN85052557
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