Last week, in a tense dialogue, Iraqese Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani was persuaded by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to quickly reopen the Iraq - Turkey (ITP) oil pipeline.
Washington sees this as an important condition to help Iraq gain energy independence, reduce dependence on Iran, and pay US companies operating in Iraq.
If Baghdad complies, it will receive more investment from the US. Otherwise, Iraq could face serious economic sanctions.
The US's toughness stems from the fact that the Federal Government of Iraq (FGI) has blocked oil exports from the Kurdistan Autonomous Region for nearly two years. The event comes after the International Arbitration Court (ICC) ruled Turkey pay Baghdad 1.5 billion USD for allowing Kurdistan to export oil independently.
The US is unhappy that Iraq continues to import gas and electricity from Iran despite previously pledging to gradually reduce this dependence.
In addition, the US and its Western allies are pushing the Kurdistan region to cut off relations with Chinese, Russian and Iranian companies associated with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
One of the key steps is BPs $25 billion deal with Baghdad to develop huge oil fields in Kirkuk, which has long been contested between the Iranian and Kurdistan governments.
On the other hand, China and Russia are backing the Iranian government to merge Kurdistan into Iraq, in order to remove Western influence from the region. Their strategy includes cutting off finances from Kurdistan's oil, blocking foreign oil and gas companies, and maintaining a ban on oil exports through Turkey.
Finally, Iraq is planning to apply the " unified Oil and Gas Law" to control the entire energy sector, thereby depriving Kurdistan of autonomy.
Under pressure from the US, Iraq has resumed negotiations with Turkey on resuming oil exports via the ITP pipeline. However, despite the agreement, history shows that the dispute between Baghdad and Erbil will continue to hinder the stability of oil flows from the region.
