US Sanctions Threaten Iraqi Sovereignty, Leveraging Oil Revenue for Geopolitical Influence
Recent reports detail how Washington employs the threat of restricting access to these funds to pressure the Iraqi government into complying with US sanctions against Iran. This financial leverage directly impacts Baghdad's ability to pay civil servant salaries and acquire essential goods like food and medicine. France 24 frames this situation as Washington 'bending Baghdad to its will,' focusing
on the US Treasury Department's actions to combat money laundering and specifically target currency exchanges allegedly funneling dollars to Iran. While the article acknowledges the US goal of limiting Iran's access to dollars, it understates the fundamental control the US exercises over a sovereign nation's primary economic resource. This arrangement stems from the 2003 invasion and subsequent
establishment of the Development Fund for Iraq, later replaced by Iraqi government accounts in the US. Before 2003, Iraq managed its own finances without such external oversight. The current situation echoes earlier instances where economic control was used to enforce compliance. For example, during the 1990s, the comprehensive sanctions against Iraq, imposed after the first Gulf War, led to an
estimated 500,000 Iraqi children dying due to lack of medicine and food, a fact then-UNICEF head Denis Halliday resigned over, calling the sanctions 'genocidal.' The US maintains that these measures are critical for national security and preventing illicit finance. However, for Iraq, this means that every financial transaction and every foreign policy decision is scrutinized through the lens of US