Iraqi Oil Pipeline: A new path to circumvent Iranian sanctions?

Iraq has long been a key tool in which Iran has been able to earn supportive revenue from its economy from oil exports around the world despite severe sanctions on the country, according to Energy Press. Last week, Ali Nazar al -Sari, general manager of the Iraqi Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), said the state -owned oil marketing company is negotiating with Oman Oq Trading to build an oil pipeline between the two countries. This potentially creates another very valuable mechanism through which Iran can circumvent sanctions.

Is Iranian oil labeled as Iraqi oil?
Iran has long been proud of its ability to bypass sanctions on oil exports imposed by the West. As Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif said on December 5 at the Doha Assembly: “If there is an art that we have perfected in Iran, we can teach it to others by paying for the cost of sanctions.”
At the beginning of the process, Iran’s sanctions oil is labeled as non -refined Iraqi oil, as oil production is several neighboring countries from the oil fields above the same oil tanks. The joint squares include the freedmen of Iran (the same reservoir of the massive Majnun Square), Yadaran (Sunbad Iraq), Azar (Badra (Iraq), Oil City (Iraqi Oil), Dehlorab (Iraqi Abu Ghrab), Sustainable Western (Iraqi Fake) and Arvand (South Abu Ghrab).
When Iran’s oil is renamed Iraqi oil, it must be shipped to where it is needed, which is still mainly China. Former Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh publicly highlighted how to do so. “What we issue is not in the name of Iran; The documents as well as the specifications are changed over and over. ”
When oil cargoes are at sea, another layer of ambiguity is created, such as tankers that disable the “automatic identification system” in ships that carry Iranian oil under the name of Iraq; This makes it very difficult to track such ships. In addition, which is especially useful for the transfer of oil to China – the common practice of Iranian oil transmission by sea or port to tanks that have the flag of a local Asian country, and Malaysia and Indonesia have long been of interest to Iran and Iraq.

Oman’s role in bypassing Iranian oil sanctions
The Iraqi plan with Oman has more benefits for Iran. One of the benefits is that it offers unlimited marine routes directly from the Gulf of Oman and to the Arab Sea, from where it can move east to China, or west to Africa and then north to Europe. This discard any possible problems – or the West – related to the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. In addition, part of the Iraq -Oman agreement is the capacity to store oil in a country that has not been sanctioned by the United States or its allies, when they seek to tighten sanctions against countries that are seen as a complicity in Iran’s empowerment to continue their energy exports. Oman’s choice by Iraq (undoubtedly consulting with Iran and possibly China) also reflects its intention to turn the monarchs into a major operational center for Iran and China in a world that is particularly seeking to dramatically increase sanctions against Iran. The reason for this is that Iran and Oman have long have plans for a 5 -inch gas pipeline – which is currently delayed due to sanctions pressures – which can play a decisive role in the Oman Sea bed and 2 meters from the port of Kuhabbarak in Iran to the port of Sahar in Oman.