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Al-Kindi Street International Zone Baghdad, Iraq

Telephone:0760-030-3000

Telephone:301-985-8841, ext. 4293 or 2413 (U.S. dial numbers that ring in Baghdad)

Emergency After-Hours Telephone:+(964) 770-443-1286 or +(964) 770-030-4888 from the U.S. or 0770-443-1286 or 0770-030-4888 from within Iraq.

U.S. Consulate General Basrah

Basrah, Iraq (near Basrah International Airport) At this time, U.S. Consulate General Basrah does not provide non-emergency consular services; please contact the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad for assistance

U.S. Consulate General Erbil

413 Ishtar, Ankawa Erbil, Iraq

Telephone:066-211-4554

Telephone:240-364-3467, ext. 4554

U.S. Citizen Emergency After-Hours Telephone: 240-264-3467 from within the United States or 066-211-4000 from within Iraq, and ask for the duty officer

U.S. Consulate Kirkuk

U.S. Consulate Kirkuk no longer has a physical presence in Kirkuk and does not provide non-emergency consular services. Please contact the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad for assistance. The International Zone (IZ) is a restricted-access area. Iraqi authorities control access to the IZ. U.S. citizens seeking to enter the IZ to obtain consular services at the U.S. Embassy should email the American Citizens Services unit for IZ entry information.

The work week in Iraq is Sunday through Thursday.

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Iraq - State

But interviews Trump gave before and after the war prove that he was publicly supportive of the US invasion of Iraq. Trump only began questioning the merits of the war several months later, as US forces became mired in a war against Iraqi insurgents.

Just days after President George W. Bush announced US forces had begun invading Iraq, Trump said in an interview on Fox that the war "looks like a tremendous success from a military standpoint."

He ignored follow-up questions asking for clarification.

Moments earlier, Trump insisted in scripted remarks as he has repeatedly during his presidential campaign that he "was opposed to the war from the beginning" and said that he would have voted against invading Iraq had he been in Congress at the time.

Trump first publicly stated his support for the Iraq War one month before Congress voted to authorize the use of military force in Iraq, when radio host Howard Stern asked him if he favored invading Iraq.

"Yeah, I guess so," Trump said. "You know, I wish the first time it was done correctly."

Trump said that comment was "long before" the war started, even though it came in the heat of the debate on the Iraq War as Congress prepared to vote on the issue.

"It was the first time anybody ever asked me about Iraq and I said, 'Well, I don't know,'" Trump said Thursday, adding those comments were "superseded" by his late comments against the war.

Trump on Thursday pointed to comments he made three months after Congress voted in favor of military action in Iraq, when he told Neil Cavuto of Fox News that "the Iraqi situation is a problem," but that "the economy is a much bigger problem as far as the president is concerned." He did not say he was opposed to the invasion.

Trump's first and most extensive comments against the Iraq War came in an interview with Esquire magazine in August 2004, one year and five months after the US invasion, which Trump described as "very early in the conflict, extremely early in the conflict, right at the beginning" of the war.

But Trump insisted Thursday that "Iraq is one of the biggest differences in this race," pointing to his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's October 2002 vote to authorize military force in Iraq when she was a US senator from New York, which Trump called "a big mistake."

Trump has repeatedly called into question Clinton's "judgment" over her Iraq War vote, even though his own vice presidential nominee Mike Pence also voted in favor of military action as a member of the House of Representatives at the time.

The Republican nominee made his case that he was against the Iraq War by pointing to comments he made in the first months of the Iraq War as "yet more evidence that I had opposed the war from the start."

Trump on Thursday pointed to comments he made to the Washington Post four days after he called the invasion a "tremendous success" in which he called the war a "mess."

But Trump's comments on March 25, 2003, at a post-Oscar party appeared to be a reference to a friendly fire incident that day in which a US missile downed a British fighter jet, causing the stock market to drop more than 300 points.

"If they keep fighting in the way they did today, they're going to have a real problem," Trump said then. "The war's a mess."

Trump also noted that in July 2003 he said on MSNBC that he would like to see some of the money being spent on the war effort go to "New York City and some of the cities and some of the states ... because you know, they really need it and they need it badly."

He did not say he opposed the war in that interview.

Read more from the original source:
Trump tries again to convince voters he opposed the Iraq war ...

ISIS tries to decrease the advancing soldiers' visibility by burning up oil tankers and flooding the air with smoke. But the troops pushed forward despite black apocalyptic skies, street after street of decimated buildings, torn electric cables whipping across the road, and hot searing winds.

Now they're just a couple of kilometers away from the town center and about 60 kilometers from Mosul. By the end of the year, they say, they will liberate Iraq's second-largest metropolitan area seized by ISIS two years ago.

Since we were last here in April, the Iraqi Army made significant advances in their fight to regain Mosul and the choke-hold around the city is tightening.

Over the last four months, soldiers have methodically toughed it out as they pressed north through villages and towns. At one point, they reached the Tigris River and then dropped a pontoon bridge that ISIS tried but failed to blow up with a boat packed with explosives.

Iraqi security forces also managed to recapture the Qayyara oil refinery, said Col. Mohammed Ibrahim, a spokesman for Iraq's military operations command.

Gen. Najim al-Jobouri, the commander of Iraq's Nineveh operations, said soldiers now sense a weakening ISIS. Before, he said, most of the ISIS attackers were foreign fighters. Now, they are a mix of foreigners and locals.

"I think that they have a lack of foreign fighters," he said.

But there is uncertainty too. Al-Jobouri also wondered whether ISIS will unleash more foreign fighters when the anticipated "Battle of Mosul" ensues.

He chatted while standing in the small lawn of a home where a collection of weapons is on display, made in Iraq and Syria for ISIS.

One was a homemade mortar tube taller than most of the soldiers. Another was a mortar larger than similar munitions at Iraq's disposal.

ISIS has "good engineers working with them," al-Jobouri said, citing the "good professional work" in building weaponry.

Al-Jobouri's biggest concern remain Mosul's civilian population -- at least 1 million people remain in the clutches of an organization known to use the civilian population as human shields.

Not far away, people who've fled ISIS have fled to a makeshift camp for displaced people -- tents set up in the middle of barren land.

Hot desert winds blast across the field. The heat is thick and suffocating. The sand sticks to everything, turning the children's matted hair shades lighter.

People swarm us the moment we arrive.

An elderly woman holds a picture of her son killed by ISIS as she clutches her granddaughter's arm.

We are hustled from tent to tent to see babies, listless and dehydrated. Children don't remember the last time they showered. And everyone repeats, "we are thirsty."

There is no clean water out here, only water drawn from a well making everyone sick. There are two toilets for a population of over 1,000. The diet? Beans and lentils twice a day.

Help has not been on the way, despite promises from international organizations and the Iraqi government. The location is just too close to the front line and the logistics of pre-positioning shelter and aid is exacerbating the misery.

Aid organizations warn of the "humanitarian catastrophe of the century" with more than 1 million people potentially fleeing Mosul and taking flight through its corridors.

It's a catastrophe because it's an anticipated and predictable disaster in the making. There's no justification for not fulfilling the urgent responsibility to ensure shelter, medicine, food, water to those who have already endured too much.

Other nearby camps in safe zones are overcrowded, and the offensive into the city of Mosul has yet to begin.

In Iraqi Kurdistan, the Debaga camp has grown to five times the size it was back in April.

More extensions are being built, but they are barely enough to cover the current backlog. Families cram under tarps and makeshift shelters or pack a school waiting for their accommodations.

"They have fled conflict, fled violence, they come here traumatized often thirsty and severely exhausted and we are not able to provide them with the services they need because we don't have the land," said Elisabeth Koek, advocacy and information adviser at the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Once land is allocated, which needs to be done by Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government, there still is the issue of funding.

Around $284 million was allocated during a flash appeal last month. But money needs to be released immediately, not just when a mass displacement happens and the crisis reaches unmanageable levels.

The need is already painfully evident. All along the various front lines as forces move forward, residents flood out from whichever point they can find.

To the north and east of Mosul the Kurdish Peshmerga have advanced, capturing several villages to the southeast of the city.

Huddled in the shade at a Peshmerga checkpoint is a small group that just fled.

Three women are sisters-in-law, seated quietly still in the black niqabs ISIS forces women to wear, their children clustered around them. Their husbands left two years ago looking for work and were not able to make it back home.

Two of the women have children who have not yet met their fathers and they hope to be reunited soon.

They all hide their faces, scared for the loved ones still under ISIS control and disclose few details of their escape.

One man, a relative, saw an opportunity for the group to flee when the Peshmerga moved closer to his lands.

"I am so happy for them," the man said. "But I am heartbroken myself. My parents were not able to come with me. I don't know how I am going to get them out."

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Iraqi troops, ISIS in their sights, inch toward Mosul - CNN.com

Summary

Donald Trump has repeated throughout his presidential campaign that he opposed the Iraq war before the March 19, 2003 invasion, often taking credit for his judgement and vision claiming he knew it would destabilize the Middle East.

On Feb. 13, in the most recent debate, Trump said: I said it loud and clear, Youll destabilize the Middle East.'In the Sept. 16, 2015 debate, Trump claimedthat he fought very, very hard against us going into Iraq, saying he could provide 25 different stories to prove his opposition.

Trump has even said that he was visited by people from the White House in attempt to silence him, because, he said, he was getting a disproportionate amount of publicity for his opposition to the war.

There is no evidence that we could find, however, that he spoke against the war before it started, although we did find he expressed early concerns about the cost and direction of the war a few months after it started.

Others have looked, but no one else including PolitiFact and the Washington Post Fact Checker has been able to find any evidence to support his claims, either. Now, BuzzFeed reports that Trump indicated his support for war in a radio interview with shock jock Howard Stern onSept. 11, 2002 a little more than six months before the war started.

Stern asked Trump directly if he supported going to war with Iraq, and Trump hesitantly responded, Yeah, I guess so.

We dont know if Trump still felt the same way in March of 2003. We do, however, know two thingsafter having reviewedmultiple news archival services in search of Trumps position on the war:

Trump had a financial interest in opposing the war in the weeks leading up to the war. The Newark Star-Ledger, New Jerseys largest newspaper, reported on March 12, 2003 thatTrump Hotels and Casino Resorts planned to sell $485 million in junk-grade bonds this week in an effort to avoid a cash crunch later this year. The uncertainty of war complicated Trumps bond sale.

The company began planning for the sale of the bonds in December, and it was completed March 13,2003 six days before the war started.The Star-Ledger reported that the growing threat of war with Iraqand a proposal to raise casino taxes and install video slot machines at New Jerseys racetracks made it more difficult for the company to find willing investors.

After the sale of the bonds was completed, Trump issued a statementon March 13 saying he was pleased with the results despite difficult capital market conditions and the looming threat of war.

Trump expressed concerns about the cost of the war soon after it started. If Trump did support the war, he turned on it quickly. As the timeline below shows, Trump in July said that he wished the money being spent in Iraq could be spent in New York City. By November, he talked about the tremendous cost of the war and the very, very unpleasant surprises in Iraq.

By 2004, Trumps oppositionto the warwas well documented.

Below is a timeline of all the Trump statements about the Iraq war that we could find in 2002 and 2003. Except for the Howard Stern interview in 2002, which was reported by BuzzFeed, the statements below were culled from numerous archival services available to us at FactCheck.org through the University of Pennsylvania: Access World News, ProQuest, Vanderbilt Television News Archives and LexisNexis.

We invite anyone including the Trump campaign to send us additional Trump statements about Iraq from either 2002 or 2003. We will add them to this timeline.

Sept. 11, 2002: Howard Stern asks Trump if he supports invading Iraq. Trump answers hesitantly. Yeah, I guess so. You know, I wish it was, I wish the first time it was done correctly.

Jan. 28, 2003: Trump appears on Fox Business Your World with Neil Cavuto, on the night of President Bushs State of the Union address. Trump says he expects to hear a lot of talk about Iraq and the problems, and the economy. He urges Bush to make a decision on Iraq. Eitheryou attack or you dont attack, he says. But he offers no opinion on what Bush should do.

Cavuto: If you had to sort of breakdown for the president, if you were advising him, how much time do you commit to Iraq versus how much time you commit to the economy, what would you say?

Trump: Well, Im starting to think that people are much more focused now on the economy. They are getting a little bit tired of hearing, were going in, were not going in, the you know, whatever happened to the days of the Douglas MacArthur. He would go and attack. He wouldnt talk. We have to you know, its sort like either do it or dont do it. When I watch Dan Rather explaining how we are going to be attacking, where were going to attack, what routes were taking, what kind of planes were using, how to stop them, how to stop us, it is a little bit disconcerting. Ive never seen this, where newscasters are telling you how telling the enemy how were going about it, we have just found out this and that. It is ridiculous.

Cavuto: Well, the problem right there.

Trump: Either you attack or you dont attack.

Cavuto: The problem there, Donald, is youre watching Dan Rather. Maybe you should just be watching Fox.

Trump: Well, no, I watch Dan Rather, but not necessarily fondly. But I happened to see it the other night. And I must tell you it was rather amazing as they were explaining the different I dont know if it is fact or if it is fiction, but the concept of a newscaster talking about the routes is just seems ridiculous. So the point is either you do it or you dont do it, or you but I just or if you dont do it, just dont talk about it. When you do it, you start talking about it.

Cavuto: So youre saying the leash on this is getting kind of short here, that the president has got to do something presumably sooner rather than later and stringing this along could ultimately hurt us.

Trump: Well, he has either got to do something or not do something, perhaps, because perhaps shouldnt be doing it yet and perhaps we should be waiting for the United Nations, you know. Hes under a lot of pressure. Hes I think hes doing a very good job. But, of course, if you look at the polls, a lot of people are getting a little tired. I think the Iraqi situation is a problem. And I think the economy is a much bigger problem as far as the president is concerned.

March 19, 2003: President George W. Bush announces in a televised address to the nation that the war with Iraq has started.

March 21, 2003:Neil Cavuto of Fox Business interviews Trump about the impact of the Iraq war on the stock market. Trump says the war looks like atremendous success from a military standpoint, and he predicts the market will go up like a rocket after the war. But Cavuto does not ask Trump whether the U.S. should have gone to war with Iraq and Trump doesnt offer an opinion.

Trump, March 21, 2003: Well, I think Wall Streets waiting to see what happens but even before the fact theyre obviously taking it a little bit for granted that it looks like a tremendous success from a military standpoint and I think this is really nothing compared to what youre going to see after the war is over.

Cavuto: What do you mean?

Trump: Well, I think Wall Streets just going to go up like a rocket even beyond and its going to continue and you know we have a strong and powerful country and lets hope it all works out.

Cavuto: Why are you so optimistic?

Trump: Well, I think a couple of things. I really feel that the key is that interest rates beyond the war interest rates are going to have to stay stable and low. Thats going to be very important. And if you really look at Wall Street, Wall Streets come down thousands and thousands of points over the last number of years. So really, I remember when we were sitting here saying two years ago that Wall Street is going to be double what it was two years ago and a lot of people didnt believe that and I didnt believe that, but there were plenty of very intelligent people who said yes. I think that Wall Street will be going up and the market will be going up and theres great confidence in this great country.

Cavuto: You know there is a feeling abroad, Donald, that the French dont like us, the Germans dont like us. There were protests abroad still continuing around the globe today from Asia to Africa and that theres going to be hell to pay that maybe some of these same people will prove their wrath by not investing in this country, by doing all sorts of nasty things, do you buy that?

Trump: Well, the I guess the French never liked us much except when we were bailing them out, to be totally honest with you. But certainly were going to have to work on our public relations because theres no question there are a lot of countries right now that arent too fond of us. I think that can be solved and probably pretty quickly. The main thing is to get the war over with and just make it a tremendously successful campaign and it will be very interesting to see what kind of weapons they find.

Cavuto: Does this put a chill on things economically? Does it scare people into buying [real estate] or not buying, renting and not renting?

Trump: In a nutshell Neil, the office market is just okay at best. The hotel market is nonexistent. But the residential market for buying, for condos, has been the strongest Ive ever seen it. Its amazing. Now, a lot of that has to do I believe with interest rates. You know money is so cheap and people are buying and they are paying the lowest interest rates in 40 years. But the market has been very strong in that sense. Theres been a lot of optimism in New York.

March 22, 2003: TheSan Antonio Express-News quotes Trump as saying the war is depressing. The article was about the Miss USA pageant, which Trump owned at the time. The pageant was held March 24, 2003 in Alamo City.

San Antonio Express-News, March 22, 2003:While terrorist attacks and the gloomy economy have taken their toll on New York, Trump said the Big Apple housing market remains strong because of low interest rates.

And his casinos in Atlantic City still lure gamblers, he said.

Trump, a bachelor since his marriage to Marla Maples ended in 1999, said the war with Iraq hasnt shaken his city.

New York is one of the safest cities in the United States, Trump said.

War is depressing, but something like the Miss USA pageant is positive and brings you out of that funk.

March 25, 2003: The Washington Post quotes Trump, at a post-Oscars Vanity Fair party, as saying the war is a mess.

Washington Post, March 25, 2003: Donald Trump, with Amazonian beauty Melania Knauss at his side, pronounces on the war and the stock market: If they keep fighting it the way they did today, theyre going to have a real problem.

Looking as pensive as a Nightline talking head, the Donald concludes, The wars a mess, before sweeping off into the crowd.

Trump and the paper do not elaborate on exactly what he means by a mess. But we do know that theOscars were held that year onMarch 23, which is also when it was reported that aU.S. missile accidentally downed a British fighter jet. We also know thatTrumps remarks were in the context of the wars impact on the stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Averageincreased 235 points the day after the war, but it dropped 307 points a day after the friendly fire incident.

July 1, 2003:Trump appears on Hardball with Chris Matthews and expresses concern about money being spent in Iraq rather than in the U.S. He made his comment when he was asked about a quote Trump gave in February 2000 about the possibility of running for president.

Trump, July 1, 2003:I never did run [in 2000] and I probably never will run. But were having a lot of fun. I think the president is doing a very good job. I would love to see New York City and some of the cities and some of the states get some of the money that`s going toward Iraq and other places, because you know, they really need and it they need it badly.

As an aside, Trump, who lives in New York, was asked by Matthews who he would vote for in a hypothetical 2008 race between two New Yorkers: then-Sen. Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, or former New York City Mayor RudyGiuliani, a Republican. Trump refused to answer. Twice Trump said, Dont ask me that question.

Sept. 11, 2003: Joe Scarborough, who at the time was host of MSNBCsScarborough Country, airs interviewswith New Yorkers including Trump on the second anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He asks about terrorism, the Iraq war and New York.

Trump, Sept. 11, 2003:It wasnt a mistake to fight terrorism and fight it hard, and I guess maybe if I had to do it, I would have fought terrorism but not necessarily Iraq.

Nov. 4, 2003: Trump appears on Hardball with Chris Matthews, where he is asked about the impact of the economy on President George W. Bushs reelection bid. Trump says the economy is doing well, but predicts his bigger problem is going to be whats happening in Iraq. Trump talks about the tremendous cost of the war and the very, very unpleasant surprises in Iraq. He says, The question is whether or not we should have been in Iraq in the first place.

Matthews, Nov. 4, 2003:Let me ask you about the presidents course from now until next election, until next November. How does it look over the next year? Is it going to stay up? I thought it was interesting that he low-balled this number. He said 7 percent, 7.2 percent, but dont count on it continuing. Is that smart politics?

Trump: Well, I think it is smart politics. I think his bigger problem is going to be whats happening in Iraq. I believe the economy is doing well. I think it could get better, but lots of surprises out on the horizon, and what is going to happen with Iraq, what is going to happen with the world situation, that could be the bigger problem that President Bush has.

Matthews: What is the economic impact? Is it the cost factor of about $100 billion a year for the military and the rebuilding, is that the cost, or is it psychological?

Trump: Well, I think its psychological. It is also tremendous amounts of money being pumped into Iraq. I mean, you look at states like New York and California, where they can`t afford school systems, and we are giving $87 billion to Iraq and that is just the beginning. So, you know, it is a tremendous cost to this country, whats gone on there, and again, we are getting some very, very unpleasant surprises in Iraq, and hopefully something is going to be done about it quickly.

Matthews: This was an elective war. The president thought we had to do it. He made a judgment call. He took us into Iraq. Do you think he will reconsider that judgment as the costs rise?

Trump: I dont think he is going to. He is a very committed guy, hes committed to that whole situation and I dont think he will really reconsider. I dont think he probably can at this point. Other people will, and you are going to find out at the polls whether or not those other people are right. I mean, you see more and more doves, if you call them doves. The question is whether or not we should have been in Iraq in the first place. I dont think that this president can do anything about that. He is really he is on a course that has to stay.

Matthews: Let me ask you about the Democrats. I have noticed a slight or other people have noticed a slight shift in direction. Instead of whacking him on the economy, which is starting to look like his strong suit, they are shifting to the war. Is that smart?

Trump:Well, I think thats the only thing they can do. I mean, the economy is good. New York City is having its best year ever perhaps in real estate. That is a very big indication. In California real estate, where I have a lot, same thing. I mean, the country is starting to do well, so I think the whole shift is going to be very much toward the war.

Dec. 15, 2003:Neil Cavuto of Fox Businessinterviews Trumptwo days after the capture of Iraq President Saddam Hussein.Hussein was captured on Dec. 13, 2003, a Saturday when the markets were closed. Trump says Husseins capture was a great thing for the country, but he mentions that a lot of people [are] questioning the wisdom of going to war with Iraq in the first place.

Cavuto: What if this had happened today, Donald, in the middle of the trading day? What would the reaction have been then?

Trump: Oh, I think it probably would have been even more positive. But ultimately, over the next year, two years, 10 years and 20 years, this is just a great thing for the free world.

Cavuto: What if we got ahead of ourselves, though? What if, for example, the concerns of continued attacks in Iraq do not abate, that thats still a factor with us and maybe drags on for some time?

Trump: Well, look, you have a lot of questions and a lot of people questioning the whole concept of going in, in the first place, Neil. But we are in, we went in, you had to find him. If he was alive, you had to find him. And you know, they fulfilled the pledge of finding Saddam Hussein.

Cavuto: If you are the presidents opponents, what do you do?

Trump: Well, you have two mixed bags. I mean, you have Mr. [Howard] Dean, thats going to say we shouldnt have been there regardless. And you have others that are saying, well, we are there and we have to do the best.I mean, we are there, regardless of what should have been done. Some people agree and some people dont agree, but we are there. And if we are there, you have to take down Saddam Hussein. And they have done that, and they did it maybe not as quickly as they thought in terms of finding him, but they found him. And that is a huge day for this country.

(Note: For those who are not reading this on our website please click here to see the latest version.)

The CBS News Republican debate transcript, annotated. The Washington Post. 13 Feb 2016.

Beckwith, Ryan Teague. Transcript: Read the Full Text of the Second Republican Debate. Time. 16 Sep 2015.

Donald Trump: America can be greater than ever before. Transcript. Fox NewsSpecial Report.7 Oct 2015.

Carroll, Lauren. Donald Trump overstates his early opposition to the Iraq War. PolitiFact. 6 Feb 2016.

Ye Hee Lee, Michelle. Donald Trumps baseless claim that the Bush White House tried to silence his Iraq War opposition in 2003. 21 Oct 2015.

Kaczynski, Andrew. In 2002, Donald Trump Said He Supported Invading Iraq. BuzzFeed. 18 Feb 2016.

DeHaven, Judy. Trump will sell bonds to avoid cash crunch. Star-Ledger. 12 Mar 2003, accessed via LexisNexis.

Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, Inc. Announces Pricing of $490 Million Note Issues by Trump Casino Holdings, LLC. Press release. BusinessWire. 13 Mar 2003.

Donald Trump: How Id Run the Country (Better). Esquire. Aug 2004, reprinted 18 Aug 2015.

Interview with Donald Trump. CNNs Larry King Live. 24 Nov 2004.

Interview with Donald Trump. Fox BusinessYour World with Neil Cavuto. 28 Jan 2003, accessed via Vanderbilt Television News Archives.

White House. President Bush Addresses the Nation. 19 Mar 2003.

Badger, T.D. Alamo City to host Miss USA pageant. Associated Press. 6 Jan 2003.

Monroe, Melissa S. The Donald is coming to Alamo City Trump says Miss USA pageant is just what the nation needs now. San Antonio Express-News. 22 Mar 2003, accessed via Access World News.

Booth, William. Hollywood Partyers, Soldiering On. The Washington Post. 25 Mar 2003.

Interview with Donald Trump. MSNBCs Hardball with Chris Matthews. 1 Jul 2003, accessedvia Access World News.

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Donald Trump and the Iraq War - factcheck.org

Iraq's government would consider selling crude through Iran should talks with the autonomous Kurdish region on an oil revenue-sharing agreement fail, a senior oil ministry official in Baghdad told Reuters.

Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) plans to hold talks with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), possibly next weekabout Iraqi oil exported through Turkey, Deputy Oil Minister Fayadh al-Nema said in an interview on Friday evening.

"If the negotiations come to a close" without an agreement "we will start to find a way in order to sell our oil because we need money, either to Iran or other countries", he said by telephone.

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Iraq, OPEC's second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia, depends on oil sales for 95 percent of its public income. Its economy is reeling under the double impact of low oil prices and the war against Islamic State (ISIS) militants.

The Kurdistan region produces around 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) on its territory and exports those volumes via Turkey. Baghdad would not be able to reroute those volumes to Iran but could order shipments of some 150,000 bpd via Iran that are being produced in the nearby province of Kirkuk.

An agreement between Iran and Iraq could function in a similar fashion as oil-swap deals Tehran has had with Caspian Sea nations, according to an oil official who asked not to be identified.

Iran would import Iraqi oil to its refineries and export an equivalent amount of its own crude on behalf of Baghdad from Iranian ports on the Gulf. Iraq has ports on the Gulf but they are not linked to the northern Kirkuk fields by pipeline.

Workers walk past the north gas company on the outskirts of Kirkuk, February 2, 2015. Ako Rasheed/Reuters

Iraq's state-run North Oil Company resumed pumping crude through the Kurdish-controlled pipeline to Turkey last week as "a sign of goodwill to invite them (the Kurds) to start negotiations," Nema said.

He said pumping had resumed on the instruction of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi following "some understanding" between Baghdad and Erbil. Abadi said on Tuesday the decision had been made to avoid damage to reservoirs.

The flow of crude extracted from Kirkuk by North Oil and pumped in the pipeline has been running at about 75,000 bpd since last week, or half the rate before it was halted in March, Nema said.

Should there be an agreement with the Kurds, flow through the pipeline would be increased to more than 100,000 bpd, not to the previous level of 150,000 bpd, he added.

Nema said about 20,000 bpd would be supplied to the refinery of Suleimaniya, in the Kurdish region, and 30,000 bpd would be refined locally in Kirkuk.

The pipeline carries crude to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, where the Kurds have been selling it independently on the international market, along with oil produced in their northern region.

The Kurdish government has been calling on Baghdad since March to resume the pumping of Kirkuk crude in full to help Erbil fund its war against ISIS. Sources in Erbil have said splitting the Kirkuk flows would divide the Kurds and complicate the task of fighting the ultra-hardline militants.

A KRG spokesman in June told Reuters the Kurds are ready to strike an agreement with Baghdad if it guarantees them monthly revenue of $1 billion, more than double what they make currently from selling their own oil.

The dispute revolves around Kurdish oil exports that Baghdad wants to bring under its control.

"If Baghdad comes and says 'OK, give me all the oil that you have and I'll give you the 17 percent as per the budget', which equals to 1 billion, I think, logically it should be the thing to accept," KRG spokesman Safeen Dizayee said in June.

"Whether this oil goes to the international market or first to Baghdad and then to the market, it doesn't make any difference," he added. "We are ready to enter dialogue with Baghdad."

The Kurdish government stopped delivering crude oil to the central government about a year ago, a decision taken when Baghdad's payment fell under $400 million a month, Dizayee said.

It is also in a dispute with the central government over Kirkuk, where North Oil produces its crude and which the Kurds claim as part of their territory. The Kurds took control of the region two years ago, after the Iraqi army disintegrated when Islamic State overran a third of the country.

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Iraq Would Sell Oil Through Iran if Deal With Kurds Fails