Iraq warns of 'collapse' if Trump blocks oil cash

Iraqi officials fear economic "collapse" if Washington imposes threatened sanctions, including blocking access to a US-based account where Baghdad keeps oil revenues that feed 90 percent of the national budget.

US President Donald Trump was outraged by the Iraqi parliament voting on January 5 to oust foreign forces, including some 5,200 American troops, who have helped local soldiers beat back jihadists since 2014.

If troops were asked to leave, he threatened, "we will charge them sanctions like they've never seen before." The US then delivered an extraordinary verbal message directly to Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi's office, two Iraqi officials told AFP.

"The PMO got a call threatening that if US troops are kicked out, ' we'the US-will block your account at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York," one official said.

The Central Bank of Iraq's account at the Fed was established in 2003 following the US-led invasion that toppled ex-dictator Saddam Hussein.

Under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483, which lifted the crippling global sanctions and oil embargo imposed on Iraq after Saddam's invasion of Kuwait, all revenues from Iraqi oil sales would go to the account.

Iraq is OPEC's second-biggest crude producer and more than 90 percent of the state budget, which reached $112 billion in 2019, derives from oil revenues.

To this day, revenues are paid in dollars into the Fed account daily, with the balance now sitting at about $35 billion, Iraqi officials told AFP.

Every month or so, Iraq flies in $1-$2 billion in cash from that account for official and commercial transactions. "We're an oil-producing country. Those accounts are in dollars. Cutting off access means totally turning off the tap," the first Iraqi official said. The second official said it would mean the government could not carry out daily functions or pay salaries and the Iraqi currency would plummet in value.

"It would mean collapse for Iraq," the official said. The oil-rich North African country has been wracked by bloody turmoil since a 2011 NATObacked uprising. The signing of the agreement will pave the way for the revival of the political process, said Libya's head of High Council of State Khaled al-Mechri on the country's al

Ahrar TV channel.

Mechri said he would accompany Sarraj to Moscow, while parliament speaker Aguila Salah will travel with Haftar. Sarraj on Monday called on Libyans to "turn the page on the past", as he prepared to sign the agreement.

"I call on all Libyans to turn the page on the past, reject discord and to close ranks to move towards stability and peace," he said in a short televised speech. Both sides in Libya's conflict had already agreed to a ceasefire from Sunday to end nine months of fighting, following weeks of international diplomacy and calls for a truce by powerbrokers Russia and Turkey.