US Treasury asks Iraq to close most Iran border crossings

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said the US Treasury has asked Iraq to close all border crossings with Iran except for two, in an interview with Al Jazeera. He described the request as part of Washington's policy of increasing economic pressure on Tehran.

Reuters reported that one of the two exceptions is in the Kurdistan region. Dunya News carried the same Reuters text.

Reuters quoted Hussein as saying: "There are many official and unofficial border crossings with Iran, and closing all of them would be difficult and would affect our economy. The Americans are still demanding the closure of the crossings, and we are currently in discussions with them."

Reuters also reported that Iraq closed the busy Sheeb border crossing with Iran last month. It said the closure was to review security and install detection equipment to stop smuggling.

ANI News described the request in slightly different terms. It said the US Department of the Treasury asked Baghdad to close almost all of its commercial border crossings with Iran, leaving only two operational. According to ANI, Hussein said the Treasury wanted bilateral overland trade and passenger traffic limited to two transit points, one of them in the autonomous Kurdistan region.

ANI, citing Al Jazeera, said Hussein also spoke about Iraq's oil exports. He said backchannel agreements with both Washington and Tehran had previously allowed Iraq to keep moving crude through the Strait of Hormuz along a designated southerly maritime corridor. ANI said a blockade of the waterway has since hit Iraq's oil-dependent economy. It reported that Hussein put the financial losses from the continued disruptions and maritime blockades at USD 60 billion.

Public TV English, which published the same ANI text, said the interview took place on Saturday. It also embedded a post from the @thenewregion account on X quoting Hussein as saying the US asked Iraq to close all its borders with Iran "except for two". The same post quoted him as saying: "We have told Iran that we accept friendship and an alliance with it, but we reject its interference in our affairs."

ANI also reported on Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, who wrote on X on Sunday: "American voters have made their choice. Time for the White House to make its own." ANI said he added that Iran's two-day proposal stands and warned of a military response if Washington chooses war.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran, Araghchi said efforts to broker a cessation of hostilities had reached an impasse, according to Al Jazeera as cited by ANI. He was quoted as saying: "The main reason is the US election results, which have obviously come as a shock to everyone."