Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi Monday walked back on his commitment to abide by new US sanctions on Iran, saying his government would only respect the dollar ban in transactions with Iran.
“I did not say we abide by the sanctions, I said we abide by not using dollars in transactions. We have no other choice,” Abadi told a news conference in Baghdad.
Last week Abadi said Iraq disagreed with the US sanctions on Iran but would abide by them to safeguard its own interests.
On Sunday, Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei's representative in Baghdad Moujtaba al-Hussein lashed out at Abadi as the Tehran visit was called off.
"These irresponsible remarks have already been condemned by many people. It's a disloyal attitude towards the honest position of Iran and the blood of the martyrs this country has spilled to defend the land of Iraq" against militants, said Hussein.
"We are saddened by this position which shows he (Abadi) has been defeated psychologically in the face of the Americans," he concluded.
Meanwhile, deputy secretary-general of al-Wefaq party, led by Iyad Allawi, Hashim al-Haboubi, said that Abadi has the right to give a statement on Iraq's position on a serious issue such as sanctions against Iran. However, he noted, Abadi should have avoided directly answering a question on such a complex issue.
“It would have been more useful for him to involve the rest of the political parties in making a suitable decision,” he noted.
The spokesman for Sadekoon of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Laith al-Athari, said that Abadi was hasty in responding to the subject of sanctions against Iran. Athari noted that since day one, Abadi has been completely biased and did not take a stand for Iraqi interests, nor has he prioritized the interests of those who supported Iraq.
Athari believes that Abadi and other politicians should place Iraq's interests first.
For his part, a top official of Saeroon, Jassim Hilfi, indicated that the sanctions will not affect Iran’s top officials and will be negatively reflected on the middle and poor classes, as with Iraq's case in the 1990's.
“I am against imposing sanctions on any country," he said.
A faculty member at Mustansiriya University, Star Awwad, noted that Shiite political blocs’ stance on US sanctions is still not clear, adding that he believes Abadi’s statement came out of his concern for the interests of the Iraqi people.
"Abadi faces a large wave of Shiite criticism from parties officially loyal to Iran, amid the silence of the rest of the major Shiite parties such as the Sadrist movement, Hekma movememnt, and al-Fadilah Party," he noted.
Awwad believes that "Abadi's position on US sanctions will increase his chances of winning a second term at the expense of his opponent, Hadi al-Amiri."
