PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC: THERE ARE NO IRANIAN FORCES IN IRAQ, NOR ANY IRAQI FORCES IN IRAN
Speaking to CNN Arabic
Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid denied on Wednesday the presence of Iranian forces inside Iraq or vice versa, noting that the matter is limited to a regular exchange of delegations to discuss common issues. He also reiterated that the absence of an oil and gas law is behind the outstanding issues between the federal government and the Kurdistan Region, during a television interview with CNN Arabic.
he Arab Summit is essential in the current circumstances. The Middle East and Arab countries are suffering from several problems, most notably the aggression against the Palestinian people and the internal situations in Sudan, Syria, and Lebanon.
There is a genuine intention on the part of the Arab countries and the countries of the region to end the suffering of the Palestinian people.
We must work to stop the fighting in Palestine, deliver humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, and then develop a political roadmap for Palestinians to achieve their legitimate rights in accordance with United Nations resolutions.
Syria is an important country for Iraq in all social, religious, and cultural aspects. We are connected to each other, and we want good and strong relations with Syria. We want the Syrian government to take into consideration the Syrian people in all their diversity and ensure their representation.
We have a long border with Syria, and there are terrorists on the border, either alone or with their families of various nationalities.
This security issue must be resolved amicably with the Syrian side.
We are working to resolve the border security crisis with Türkiye and the presence of its forces inside Iraq, especially given the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s decision to pursue peaceful means to resolve the issue.
Our relations with Türkiye are good in terms of trade and diplomacy, and our trade is strong, amounting to tens of billions annually. We hope to resolve the security issue.
Our relations with Iran are long-standing, normal, and strong. There are no Iranian forces inside Iraq or vice versa. There is a constant exchange of delegations to discuss all existing issues.
Most of Iraq’s water resources come from Türkiye and Iran, and most of it comes from Türkiye. We need a fair share to meet the needs of the population and agricultural requirements.
Our relations with neighboring countries and the region, including Egypt and Jordan, are strong and solid, and there is an exchange of expertise and business to improve infrastructure.
Our relations with the United States are normal and good, and agreements exist between the two parties and are being studied jointly. The decision on whether or not to keep forces is left to the ongoing negotiations between the two parties.
We welcome the visit of President Trump and European delegations to the region to hear directly from the region’s leaders about existing problems and work to resolve them.
We hope that the ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran will be successful and will benefit everyone.
Iraq is ready to serve as a mediator between Iran and the United States to ensure the success of negotiations, if requested.
The absence of an oil and gas law is behind the outstanding issues between the federal government and the Kurdistan Region. Negotiations are ongoing between the two sides to resolve issues such as salaries, oil, and other matters.
The elections will be held on schedule, and we are working to ensure that they are safe, stable, and fair, ensuring broad participation by the Iraqi people.
(60%) of Iraq’s population are young people, and they constitute the largest group. They must be supported, and we need their participation in supporting the political process, defending security and stability, and for them to be an interested part in solving problems.
😊😊Once we read about the UN praising Iraq for its efforts in AML in article titled “UNITED NATIONS: WE BELIEVE IN IRAQ’S RETURN TO ITS POSITIVE ROLE.”
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) announced on Wednesday during the AML conference in Baghdad that “this conference represents an important milestone in Iraq’s journey towards transitioning to a state of law and institutions and positive interaction with efforts to combat money laundering and dry up the sources of terrorist financing.” WOW! WOW! WOW!
He added, “The United Nations believes in Iraq and Iraq’s return, and believes that good governance, transparency, and international transition are not just slogans, but rather pillars toward a transparent economy that interacts with the region and the world.” Are they getting ready for the next step which is…….. RV time!
😊 😊In this next we see more of the fruits of Iraq’s labor in combating AML in the article titled “NEW PARTNERSHIP TO CONNECT THE MIDDLE EAST AND EUROPE VIA IRAQ”. I have to say if they are not about to go international after reading this article, I am a monkey’s uncle….lol….
Efforts to create a digital telecommunications corridor stretching from the Middle East to Europe through Iraq, offering alternative terrestrial connectivity options that provide higher levels of capacity, security and efficiency. According to a statement, the route will use terrestrial fibre connectivity that utilizes Iraq’s position as a digital gateway, creating more reliable services that are less susceptible to interruptions. It will pass through Turkey and make its way up to Frankfurt, Germany. The new corridor will act as an alternative to traditional subsea routes by bypassing some of the turbulent areas, ensuring seamless connectivity between the Middle East and Europe.
Mr. Sohail Qadir, CEO at ZOI, said:
“By working together, we will enhance regional and international connectivity, offering higher capacity, security, and efficiency for businesses, operators and hyperscalers across continents.”
😊Next in a recent article we see the positive results of the AML efforts. See article titled “IRAQ STOCK EXCHANGE REPORTS OVER 11B IQD TRADED IN STRONG FINAL WEEK OF MAY”dated May 29, 2025.
😊Then we read other recent articles praising Iraq for its efforts. One is titled “WASHINGTON PRAISES IRAQ’S REGIONAL ROLE AND AFFIRMS ITS SUPPORT FOR ITS STABILITY”.The United States on Tuesday commended Iraq’s regional role and its efforts to end tensions and crises. “the ongoing positive developments Iraq is witnessing at various levels, and the efforts being made to consolidate security and stability and strengthen the economy and investment.”
😊I find this next article amazing progress in the AML effort. You can read about it in the article titled “TRANSFORMATION IS A FINGERPRINT… “ESREFLAK” RESHAPES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CITIZENS AND MONEY.” It was reported that Iraq has achieved a qualitative leap in the electronic banking sector, ranking third in the Arab world in the number of bank cards issued, with a rate exceeding 46.5 cards per 100 people. This rate puts Iraq ahead of Jordan and Morocco, and close to the Gulf states, which have long led the field. They are telling us nearly half the population now have bank cards in Iraq. If you dare to remember that 10 years ago Dr Shabibi started this effort and it did not go very well. It stagnated and was very difficult to get people to go from raw cash to debit cards.
So, today they are telling us they were able to achieve such this progress based on a dual strategy that combined institutional support from the Central Bank of Iraq with popular support through awareness campaigns that met with a remarkable response, most notably the “Spend It” campaign, which sparked a wave of cultural change in the way people handle money. In a short period of time, the campaign was able to break through the walls of cash habits, replacing them with easy and safe digital options. A citizen named Haider Al-Zaidi tweeted on the “X” platform, saying: “This is the first time I have paid with a fingerprint and without cash at Abu Ammar’s store. Thank you to the #SpendYou campaign.
NEW PARTNERSHIP TO CONNECT THE MIDDLE EAST AND EUROPE VIA IRAQ
Zain Omantel International (ZOI) has announced a partnership with Iraq’s Horizon Scope Telecom and the Iraqi Telecommunications and Information Company (ITPC), a government-owned company under the Iraqi Ministry of Telecommunications.
This partnership enables ZOI to create a digital telecommunications corridor stretching from the Middle East to Europe through Iraq, offering alternative terrestrial connectivity options that provide higher levels of capacity, security and efficiency.
According to a statement from ZOI, the route will use terrestrial fibre connectivity that utilises Iraq’s position as a digital gateway, creating more reliable services that are less susceptible to interruptions. It will pass through Turkey and make its way up to Frankfurt, Germany. The new corridor will act as an alternative to traditional subsea routes by bypassing some of the turbulent areas. The route will enable international businesses, telecom operators and hyperscalers to expand their reach via robust, low-latency infrastructure, ensuring seamless connectivity between the Middle East and Europe.
Mr. Sohail Qadir, CEO at ZOI, said:
“By working together, we will enhance regional and international connectivity, offering higher capacity, security, and efficiency for businesses, operators and hyperscalers across continents.”
Mr. Ahmed Abdulsalam, the Managing Director of Horizon Scope, said:
“Offering alternative terrestrial connectivity routes is a critical way to protect against infrastructure vulnerabilities, ensuring that enterprises can capture more opportunities and scale with reliable connectivity.”
Mr. Ali Y. Dawood, the Director General of ITPC, said:
“This partnership marks a significant milestone in strengthening Iraq’s position as a connectivity corridor, especially by providing an alternative path to Europe. We are committed to delivering connectivity solutions that the people of Iraq can trust and use to enable seamless global connectivity.”
PLEASE READ THIS—-> Now let’s talk about the new stage that Iraq has entered, which incidentally, efforts were put on warp speed to complete the AML reforms as acceleration began in early January 2023. You have all seen it in the hundreds of articles I presented over these past couple years.
If you can remember I keep harping on the issue of a suppressed Iraqi dinar from the real nominal rate using still the sanctioned de facto peg to the dollar. We know about what the TRUE rate of the dinar should currently be based on its assets.
The IMF is going to a strict asset-based evaluation of currency values. This is a Basel requirement. So, what has been preventing this revaluation to the TRUE rate of the dinar? By reading this Newsletter today so far you have a pretty good idea that it was mostly the AML issue.
I am not saying that other issues are also not important but when you look at them and study them overall, they too always come back to being a part of the AML efforts, i.e. banking reforms.
If you have been reading enough of these articles over the past two decades (like I have), we now get a sense of a real change. Call it a transition, yes, a transition taking slower than we want, but a sound transition away from those sanctioned days of Iraq since 1990’s.
It is a new Iraq and it is here now not years from now. So, it puzzles me as to why the currency also does not NOW reflect this change. But I assure you it will, and it won’t be long until it does. We all need to just relax and hang-in to the end…. The AML efforts is sprouting great benefits to Iraq and allowing them to move ahead quickly now.
😊Looking at recent article titles “CBI CONFIRMS COMMITMENT TO COMBATING MONEY LAUNDERING IRAQ” from May 28, 2025, we read about an AML conference that took place in Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), Ali Al-Alaq, reaffirmed on Wednesday the country’s commitment to countering money laundering and terrorist funding in collaboration with international partners.
During his participation in a conference:
Al-Alaq stated that Iraq is working with foreign partners to ensure compliance with international treaties on combating money laundering.
According to Al-Alaq.Iraq has unique qualities in terms of financial data transparency and access required by authorities for monitoring currency flows outside the country,
Al-Alaq explained that Iraq is cooperating on a global scale to exchange information through broad communication networks.
Al-Alaq also stated that Iraq had some shortcomings that needed to be addressed, which the CBI did well by implementing suitable measures to decrease the dangers of money laundering and assure effective counter-terrorism financing.