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Iraq and Iran to sign major energy deals | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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BEIRUT,(Reuters) – Iraq”s Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari will sign landmark oil and power agreements with the Iranian government next week to help solve an energy crisis in Iraq, a senior Iraqi official said on Thursday.

The agreements reflect a shift in policy by the new U.S.-backed Iraqi government which came to power in May and opted for closer ties with Iran, although both countries fought an eight-year war in the 1980s.

The deals comprise a 40 km (25 mile) oil pipeline between the Iraqi oil centre of Basra and Iran”s Abadan port, using Iran”s Caspian ports to import refined fuels into Iraq from central Asia and linking the electricity grid of the two countries, the official said.

Mismanagement and sabotage against power facilities have turned Iraq into an importer of refined fuels, mostly from Turkey and the Gulf, after the U.S.-invasion in 2003, and created severe energy shortages.