AMERICAN EYES LOOK AT “RAFIDAIN BANK”.. SMUGGLING DOLLARS TO IRAN MAY LEAD TO SANCTIONS AND “ECONOMIC COLLAPSE”, 13 FEB

 AMERICAN EYES LOOK AT “RAFIDAIN BANK”.. SMUGGLING DOLLARS TO IRAN MAY LEAD TO SANCTIONS AND “ECONOMIC COLLAPSE”

American eyes are turning towards the government-owned Rafidain Bank and demanding that sanctions be imposed on it, describing it as a “window for smuggling dollars to Iran,” while politicians and academics do not view the matter with optimism, especially since any impact on the bank will cause financial tensions within Iraq, as it is one of the most important government banks.

Republican Representative Joe Wilson, in a post on his X account, called on the US Treasury Department to impose sanctions on the official Iraqi Rafidain Bank, which he said was “smuggling huge sums of money to Iran.”

“Maximum pressure on Iran means maximum pressure on Iraq. Start with Rafidain Bank,” Wilson said, addressing the US Treasury, saying, “Stop allowing Iraqi militias and the Iranian regime to smuggle $500-600 million a month from the largest bank in Iraq,” stressing that “Trump will fix it.”

With Donald Trump in the White House, politicians and experts are warning of the danger of imposing any American sanctions on the Iraqi banking system in the coming period, especially the “Rafidain Bank”, as there is a possibility that Iraq will witness “catastrophic results” if sanctions are imposed, after the circulation of a memorandum issued by the American presidency, stressing the need to tighten the noose on Iran, followed by American political calls to stop funding to Iraqi entities and impose sanctions on banks, most notably the government-owned Rafidain Bank, which is accused by an American representative of sponsoring the smuggling of money to Iran and armed factions loyal to it.

What if sanctions are imposed?

“Imposing any American sanctions on the Iraqi banking system, the official government one, will have serious and major repercussions on the stability of the economic and financial situation in Iraq,” banking and financial expert Nawar Al-Saadi told Al-Jabal platform on Thursday, noting that “this will lead to a significant increase in the dollar exchange rate, and will also prevent many foreign investment opportunities in various sectors. Therefore, these American sanctions and threats of them will cause a near collapse of the Iraqi economic situation.”

The banking expert added that “these sanctions will have an impact on raising the budget deficit as well as the difficulty of obtaining cash liquidity to provide employees’ salaries, especially since Iraqi oil is sold and the money from the sale is placed in American banks and then transferred to Iraq. If these sanctions are imposed, America will prevent or delay sending these funds,” noting that “here, Iraq will enter a dangerous financial crisis, the most dangerous in its history, and therefore the sanctions on the Iraqi banking system are dangerous, and their results differ from imposing sanctions on some private banks, as happened previously.”

“CATASTROPHIC RESULTS”

On the other hand, the Finance Committee in the Iraqi Parliament confirmed that “catastrophic results” would occur if the United States imposed any sanctions on the Iraqi banking system.

Committee member Mustafa Al-Karawi said in an interview with Al-Jabal that “the economic and financial situation in Iraq could collapse if the United States of America imposes any sanctions on the Iraqi banking system, as this will have truly catastrophic consequences.”

Al-Karawi explained that “until now, there is no official American move to impose such sanctions on the Iraqi banking system, and what has been issued is merely a threat and intimidation, perhaps for the purpose of pressuring specific issues and files, but at the same time, these threats must be taken seriously, and Iraqi diplomacy must move to prevent such decisions that have disastrous consequences on Iraq’s financial and economic situation.”

“PUNITIVE MEMO”

On Tuesday, February 4, the White House published a presidential memorandum on US national security, which included in part tightening sanctions on Iran, as the memorandum directed to “maintain countermeasures against Iran within the framework of the Financial Action Task Force, evaluate ownership thresholds to ensure that Iran is denied all potential illicit proceeds, and evaluate whether financial institutions should adopt the Know Your Customer (KYC) standard for transactions related to Iran in order to further prevent sanctions evasion.”

Also, “take immediate steps, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury and other relevant agencies, to ensure that Iran does not use the Iraqi financial system to evade or circumvent sanctions, and that the Gulf States are not used as a remittance point to evade sanctions.”

A MAJOR AMERICAN SHIFT

Political analyst Aqil Abbas said, “What is happening now is a major shift in the American approach to Iraq, considering this country as part of the Iranian axis and treating it as an adversary, but in an undeclared manner.”

Abbas said in an interview with the “Al-Jabal” platform in this regard that “the presidential memorandum stated that the Iraqi banking system should be prevented from smuggling money to Iran,” noting that “in normal administrations, America does not announce something like this publicly and in a memorandum of a punitive nature, but rather communicates through political and diplomatic channels, and the pressure is from behind the scenes. Now the matter has become public, Iraq will no longer enjoy the previous advantage of a friend, to obtain exemptions regarding oil and others regarding electricity, or to work with its government to develop its ability to be independent from Iran.”

He explained that “this time Washington classifies Iraq as an ally of Iran and is going directly to economic sanctions, and this could even include the Central Bank of Iraq, and a real disaster will happen to Iraq if things go in this direction, and this is very possible.”

STATUS OF THE RV, PART. 1 , 13 FEB

STATUS OF THE RV

I have some very good news to report today and some very bad news. Oh boy! Which do you want first….lol..lol..lol.. 😊 In the long run we all should know that this is going to work itself out and Iraq will be successful it just may be a little later than sooner. 

Remember that this is a continued “RV Saga” until the day it actually happens. Here are the main issued plauging Iraq:

1)Continued dollar smuggling to Iran through Rafidian Bank: Yes, when you are dealing in dollars and these dollars actually belong to the U.S. Federal Reserve this give the US power over Iraq. Isn’t Iraq supposed to be de-dollarized?

 Aren’t they also using electronic means to transfer money? So then where are all these dollars coming from? Let’s find the answers to these questions. 

2)The U.S. cancelling of the Exemption of selling of Iranian Gas and Electricity to Iraq: I thought Iraq was out of Chapter VII sanctions so what is this hold that the US still has over Iraq? How can they even dictate these terms to Iraq? Let’s find the answers to these questions. 

The Bad News:

This is our RV Saga. If you read the rest of the news for this period is it all very good but let’s deal with the bad news first and then I’ll get to the good stuff. But any idiot can see that there is absolutely NO WAY that U.S. is going to allow the Iraqi dinar to revalue and float back on FOREX markets unless these situations are taken care of. 

In fact I will even go further and use the God given common sense He gave me and tell you that Iran will have to be neutralized entirely before Iraq will get back its dinar currency to its glory days.

I know this all very harsh news for many of us to take today. Do you think I like it? I too am invested in the IQD. But we all have to put on our BIG BOY PANTS, SUCK IT UP and deal with the reality of the situation in Iraq.

 I will also add that this situation could change very quickly and we are not talking about years or even months. Iran is already on the brink of total economic collapse and I feel sorry for the common Iranian citizen. But like what happened in the Gaza strip the Iranian people keep this idiot
Ayatollah Khamenei, who has been supreme leader since 1989. He is head of state and commander-in-chief.

 He also has authority over the national police and the morality police. The government basically does what he tells them to do. He has an ideology which is to destroy Israel and to manipulate and terrorize the world to gain his wealth.

Yes, Khamenei, a purist dictator in every sense of the word. For the U.S. it is critical to take down the Iranian leadership for lasting PEACE in the middle east will never occur with Ayatollah Khamenei or anyone like him in charge in Iran. Enough is enough of this constant terrorizing of the world through Iranian extreme Muslim ideology. 

Oh…. did I mention Iran’s effort to build a nuclear warhead and have the capability of intercontinental missile delivery system for it? Why would they want this even?

So, you see there are challenges when it comes to Iran. Under the Obama and Biden administration the foreign policy towards Iran was one of placating Iran rather than challenging them through hard sanctions. We all witnessed the result on Oct 7^th and the Israeli attack. 

The Trump policy is just the opposite of placate and one of aggressive action as he knows Iranian leadership must be taken down for his middle east plan for PEACE to be successful. It is just unfortunate that Iraq is caught in the middle of it all.

As investors, we must remember a couple things too about the relationship between Iran and Iraq. Although from an outsider viewpoint we envision Iran as so bad, but for the Iraqi people, Iran is their neighbor and many Iraqis have roots or Shia relatives in Iran. Iran also supplies a large labor sector for Iraq as well as the electricity and gas.

Deep down the Iraqi people somewhat sympathize with Iranian people. They may not like the Iranian leadership under the Ayatollah regime but it is the average citizen that connects the two countries together. Remember also that billions in trade with their Iranian brothers and sisters is important to Iraq too. Do you see the picture more clearly now? Do you see that if the Iranian leadership can be neutralized there is great hope for Iran to be a great free and democratized nation again. It is not the average citizen that hates the western culture and Israel, but the lies that are being spread. Yes, lies of hate by very wicked people in charge of that country. The prophets too have given us words that God is working to reverse this situation with Iran. I fully believe He will accomplish this task.

https://mntgoatnewsusa.com/latest-mnt-goat-newsletter/

JEFF: For them to approve the oil and gas law is absolutely waiting for the rate to change!! #iqd

 

COMPLEX NETWORKS AND METHODS OF SMUGGLING DOLLARS FROM IRAQ TO IRAN.. AMERICAN REPORT REVEALS THE DETAILS, 13 FEB

 COMPLEX NETWORKS AND METHODS OF SMUGGLING DOLLARS FROM IRAQ TO IRAN.. AMERICAN REPORT REVEALS THE DETAILS

An American report stated that Numbers Massive Central Bank Auctions Iraqi In selling hard currency, it raises doubts and concerns about the possibility of smuggling a large part of the currency to Iran.

The report stated that “the Central Bank’s currency sales amounted to more than $81 billion during 2024, a significant increase over 2023, when sales were nearly $41 billion.”

US President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Wednesday to take immediate action by federal agencies to prevent Iran from using the financial system Iraqi.

Iraqi economic experts say that “the country is facing a difficult test, as Baghdad It wants to meet the US sanctions, while at the same time seeking to maintain the stability of the country’s economy and not plunge it into new crises.”

According to the report, “Iran is exploiting the financial system in Iraq In order to circumvent international sanctions, and find an important outlet to obtain hard currency and smuggle it to Tehran.

Professor of International Economic Relations, Abdul Rahman Al-Mashhadani, confirmed that “exploitation of…Iran For the Iraqi financial system, it is a problem that we have warned about for years,” noting that “there are a set of methods that are followed by IranIn Iraq, which is clearly evident in the trade balance that is in Tehran’s favor, as it exports Baghdad”It is worth less than a billion dollars to this neighboring country.”

Republican Representative Joe Wilson revealed that Trump issued a directive calling on the Treasury Department and other US agencies to take immediate steps to ensure that the financial system is not used. Iraqi before Iran In order to evade or bypass sanctions.

He also directed that the Gulf countries should not be used as transshipment points in order to evade sanctions.

Wilson explained in a post on the X platform, which he attached to a picture of the decision signed by Trump, that these steps should ensure that it is not used. Iran For the financial system Iraqi To evade or bypass sanctions, and not use the Gulf states as transshipment points for Tehran.

Academic and economics professor Nabil Al-Marsoumi said, “Iran officially exports about $12 billion to Iraq, and all of these are revenues generated in dollars for Tehran,” noting that “these Numbers It only reflects what is happening on the trade front, but there is a lot of money being smuggled through complex networks.”

Al-Marsoumi agrees that “there is a group of importers, banks, and money transfer offices that form networks that rely on fabricated documents, whether in quantity or value, in order to transfer billions of dollars annually,” stressing that “there are two types of dollar smuggling in Iraq, one to bring hard currency into the Iraqi market, and the second to smuggle it back to Iran.”

In August 2023, the National Security Agency announced Iraqi In a statement, “The most prominent currency smuggling networks were overthrown, which included a group of defendants who carried out suspicious financial and banking activities and who admitted to using fictitious companies that carried out commercial activities as a cover for currency smuggling operations outside the country.”

And you need Iran to currency Dollar In order to stabilize its deteriorating economy, which has been severely affected by US sanctions, while the troubled Iranian currency has lost much of its value.

The mechanisms followed by Tehran in Iraq Official institutions such as the Central Bank, or private banks, some of which are fronts for political parties,” according to what was confirmed by MP Jamal Koujar, a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee.

To ensure compliance with US standards on money laundering and sanctions on Iran, more than 20 Iraqi banks have been banned from making dollar transfers, but they are still operating in Iraq Using the dinar.

“Among the most prominent methods followed by,” Koger said, Iran “By exploiting the commercial sector, which provides Tehran with the goods, the invoices are inflated. For example, a deal may be worth one million dollars, but on paper it becomes worth four million dollars,” he said, noting that “the second method that has begun to spread is the establishment of Iranian factories inside Iraq, and their products are sold in the market, and the revenues are transferred to Iran through specialized networks.”

Some of the cash is even sent directly by individuals crossing the border into Iran, especially with border crossings being lax in tracking or preventing currency smuggling.

Professor of International Economic Relations, Abdul Rahman Al-Mashhadani, said, “The private sector…Iraqi Which imports billions from Iran, usually depends on collecting Dollar From the parallel market, through specific exchange networks or even directly from individuals,” stressing that “these financial transactions with Iran It is usually not done through the Central Bank, especially after the electronic platform was imposed in an earlier period.”

Al-Mashhadani pointed out that “there is information confirming that there is counterfeit Iraqi currency being printed in Iran, and it is being pumped into the Iraqi market to obtain dollars.”

He explained that “there are armed factions in Iraq, some of which have established investment companies that transfer billions of dollars directly to Iran.”

“Despite talk of Iraqi-Iranian exchanges using the Iranian toman, the bulk of the deals are done in US dollars,” Al-Mashhadani confirmed.

Al-Mashhadani asked, “How are goods worth about $25 million purchased daily from Iran?”

Among the means by which Tehran exploits Baghdad, according to Al-Mashhadani, are “transportation operations or the sale of Iranian oil as Iraqi oil, where the exchanges take place in territorial waters in a move to circumvent international sanctions.”

Al-Mashhadani defined the mechanism as “fabricating certificates of origin and export for this oil as being from Iraq, and it is re-exported to countries in East Asia, which resell it.”

The United States announced yesterday, Thursday, the imposition of financial sanctions, the first since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, targeting an “international network” accused of transporting Iranian oil to China to finance Tehran’s military activities.

The US Treasury Department said in a statement that “the sanctions target an international network that facilitates the transfer of millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to China.”

In early 2023, the Central Bank announced Iraqi Adopting an electronic platform to monitor sales movement Dollar And money laundering operations.

Academic and professor of economics, Al-Marsoumi said, “The mechanisms that were put in place during the past period to curb the smuggling of currency to and from Iraq did not succeed, especially the electronic platform.”

He added, “In some Iraqi markets, transactions are conducted in Iranian tomans, but these amounts are exchanged again domestically.”Iraqi In dollars.

At the beginning of this year, the Central Bank stopped Iraqi Working with the mechanisms of the electronic platform related to selling the dollar, while he pointed out the continuation of the mechanism for granting Dollar For airport travelers.

Al-Marsoumi stated that “the platform did not achieve its intended purpose, as the Central Bank’s sales increased from Dollar During the period following the opening of the platform, importers were simply submitting fabricated invoices, and even if they were tracked in a proper manner, their forgery could not be detected.”

Koger agrees that “the electronic money transfer platform has not been able to stop the smuggling of hard currency from Iraq To Iran, networks are active in transferring Dollar Cash in parallel markets.

Al-Mashhadani feared that “it will reach…Baghdad The effects of international sanctions on Iran, including Washington’s recent decisions to stop importing Iranian gas for the benefit of Iraq.

He said, “The economy Iraqi He may be shocked by these decisions, especially since Iraq It depends on Iranian gas to generate electricity, and a crisis could occur if an alternative to Iranian gas is not found.

The electricity issue is sensitive in Iraq, as its population of 43 million people suffer from frequent power outages that may last up to 10 hours daily. The situation is made worse by the high temperatures that reach 50 degrees during the summer.

If the sanctions are expanded to include the banking system, it will lead to more economic pain, especially since 28 banks are subject to sanctions out of 62 banks in Iraq.

Kocher believes that “Iraq will not be able to sever its economic ties with Iran, especially with the heavy reliance on gas imports to generate electricity for the Iraqi provinces.”

He said, “The Iraqi government must talk to the American authorities, in order to continue taking exceptions to ensure the continued flow of gas.”

The United States has always given Iraq Exemptions from the application of sanctions by paying money to Iran for electricity supplies, provided that Tehran uses the money only for “non-sanctionable transactions” such as the purchase of humanitarian goods, including food and agricultural products.

On Wednesday, Trump canceled the exemption granted to Iraq to import electricity and gas from Iran He also decided to prevent Tehran from “exploiting Baghdad’s money.”

MNT GOAT : "COMPLEX NETWORKS AND METHODS OF SMUGGLING DOLLARS FROM IRAQ TO IRAN.. AMERICAN REPORT REVEALS THE DETAILS", 13 FEB

 MNT GOAT

"COMPLEX NETWORKS AND METHODS OF SMUGGLING DOLLARS FROM IRAQ TO IRAN.. AMERICAN REPORT REVEALS THE DETAILS".

"US President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Wednesday to take

immediate action by federal agencies to prevent Iran from using the financial system Iraqi. Iran is exploiting the financial system in Iraq In order to circumvent international sanctions,

and find an important outlet to obtain hard currency and smuggle it to Tehran. "American eyes are turning towards the government-owned Rafidain Bank and demanding that sanctions be imposed on it, describing it as a "window for smuggling dollars to Iran," - "Stop allowing Iraqi militias and the Iranian regime to smuggle $500-600 million a month from the largest bank in Iraq," stressing

that "Trump will fix it." We just have to wait and see how this will all shake out. Weren't we told this was all stopped? I guess they lied to us. This could get nasty!

Their words not mine.....

MILITIAMAN: Iraq...is taking her place again in the region!! @DINARREVALUATION #iraqidinarinvestor

 

FOREIGN RESERVES AND THE DOLLAR PRICE.. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THEIR FUNCTIONS IN IRAQ?, 13 FEB

FOREIGN RESERVES AND THE DOLLAR PRICE.. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THEIR FUNCTIONS IN IRAQ?

Experts in Iraqi economic affairs believe that the reserves of Mesopotamia and its investment portfolio, after the reserves recorded 106.7 billion dollars during the year 2024, are Iraq’s fortress and incubator in providing overall stability and protecting the national economy from external shocks that are reflected in the Iraqi balance of payments, in addition to its role in stabilizing the general level of prices internally through intervention policies in the organized money market.

Iraq ranked third in the Arab world in terms of foreign exchange reserves for the year 2024, as this reserve is considered “very large” and “reassuring” because it represents 20-40% of the volume of the issued currency. The foreign reserves of any country also contribute to maintaining the value of the local currency and liquidity to meet international financial obligations, in addition to financing domestic projects and reassuring investors, in addition to diversifying investment portfolios.

The cash reserve is defined as the total deposits and bonds of foreign currencies held by the central banks and monetary authorities in the country with the aim of supporting the local currency and paying the debts owed by the country. The cash reserve usually consists of several elements, which are foreign currencies, such as the dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen and other currencies, in addition to gold.

QUASI SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUND

In this context, the financial advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mazhar Mohammed Salih, says that Iraq’s foreign reserves, their formation and management are considered a quasi-sovereign wealth fund (which is currently managed by a well-diversified investment portfolio in different currencies and short-term derivative investment instruments), and the aforementioned portfolio of reserves performs two basic functions at the same time.

Saleh reviewed these two functions by saying to the “Al-Jabal” platform: “The first is to protect macroeconomic stability, i.e. the stability of the general level of prices internally by controlling the levels of local liquidity in line with the real flows of goods, services and benefits that are financed by part of these reserves and what results from them and are called here international reserves, by influencing the control of growth in the money supply through intervention in the money market by withdrawing excess liquidity by exchanging it for foreign currency, in order to finance foreign trade for the private sector in particular, indicating that these activities are called in monetary policy (monetary sterilization) using a mechanism called open market operations, which is the operational (quantitative) aspect of the objectives of monetary policy called operational objectives to combat the growth of monetary inflation rates and stabilize cash flows.”

The second is to use those foreign reserves in part by intervening in the monetary market to provide (price) stability in the exchange market by adhering to the fixed and stable exchange rate (signals) that the regular foreign currency exchange market is the basis of that market and the leader of the stability of the exchange rate itself, according to Saleh.

The advisor stressed in his statement to “Al-Jabal” that there is a specialized central administration for these reserves, as the foreign portfolio is subject to highly precise investment standards in adopting short-term international financial instruments that generate interest returns, including investing in treasury bonds of central countries in the world that are guaranteed with high-rated returns, but are semi-liquid, and this is what distinguishes the sovereign wealth fund from stability funds. I mean here the foreign reserves portfolio, which requires it to be semi-highly liquid to confront fluctuations in the national balance of payments when needed.

Cash gold, which may constitute more than 10% of these reserves, is a safe haven within the aforementioned investment portfolio of the reserves under study against the risks of currency fluctuations and the interest that makes up the portfolio itself, since the gold asset cycle is a long-term and relatively stable cycle, as monetary authorities can issue gold bonds guaranteed by the reserve gold itself and with interest when needed, and these are globally desirable bonds, according to the Iraqi government advisor.

Saleh added that “Iraq currently enjoys foreign reserves that are considered high in terms of efficiency, especially in terms of their coverage of the broad money supply, which covers 75% or more, which is the global measure required to measure the efficiency of foreign exchange reserves in maintaining stability for the national economy, in addition to the fact that the aforementioned foreign reserve covers approximately 15 months of import trade, which is a measure superior to the global measure that indicates 3 months of trade sufficiency.” Thus, “Iraq’s reserves and investment portfolio are Iraq’s fortress and incubator in providing overall stability and protecting the national economy from external shocks that are reflected in the Iraqi balance of payments, in addition to its role in stabilizing the general level of prices internally through policies of intervention in the organized money market.”

Gives Iraq the ability to control the exchange rate of the dinar

In contrast, Professor of International Economics, Nawar Al-Saadi, acknowledged that “these reserves go beyond being mere numbers registered with the Central Bank. They represent the foundation on which the state relies in confronting economic crises, whether they result from a decline in oil prices, which is the main source of revenue, or due to turmoil in global financial markets that may affect cash flows and investments.”

Al-Saadi added in his interview with Al-Jabal, “Having strong foreign reserves gives Iraq the ability to control the exchange rate of the dinar, which reduces its violent fluctuations that may lead to high inflation rates and an increase in the cost of living for citizens. These reserves are also used to finance vital import operations, especially for basic commodities such as food and medicine, which ensures the continued flow of these materials to Iraqi markets without being significantly affected by external circumstances.”

He added, “The level of foreign reserves directly affects Iraq’s credit rating and the confidence of international financial institutions in the local economy. The higher these reserves are, the more confident investors are, which enhances the chances of attracting foreign capital and supports investments in non-oil sectors, which is what Iraq needs to reduce its dependence on oil as the sole source of revenue.”

He believed that “having large reserves alone is not enough to ensure economic stability, as they must be accompanied by sound financial and economic policies. These reserves cannot be considered a resource that is consumed merely to cover the financial deficit, calling for “investing them wisely to enhance economic development and support productive sectors, because using reserves in an ill-considered manner may lead to their depletion over time, which exposes the country to great risks when unexpected economic shocks occur.”

Al-Saadi concluded his speech by saying, “Iraq needs a clear strategy for managing its foreign reserves, so that they are employed in a way that achieves a balance between monetary and financial stability on the one hand, and supporting development and investment projects on the other hand. Maintaining these reserves at safe levels enhances the Iraqi economy’s ability to withstand crises, and gives decision-makers more room to maneuver in facing future economic challenges.”