The U.S. suspends dollar shipments to exert pressure; Iraqi militia groups become the focus of the game.

Golden Finance reported that on April 22, according to The Wall Street Journal, multiple Iraqi and U.S. officials said that the Trump administration has suspended the transportation of U.S. dollars to Iraq and frozen security cooperation projects with the Iraqi military, thereby increasing pressure on Baghdad and forcing it to disband the powerful Iran-backed militia forces. Some of these officials said that a batch of cargo plane shipments carrying nearly $500 million in U.S. banknotes—funds derived from Iraqi oil sales held in accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York—was recently intercepted by Treasury Department officials due to the United States’ concerns about these militia groups.

U.S. and Iranian officials said this was the second time, since the outbreak of the Iran war at the end of February, that the United States has delayed plans to ship dollars to the Central Bank of Iraq. In the weeks prior, militia forces launched attacks on U.S. facilities in Iraq and neighboring countries to show support for Tehran. U.S. and Iraqi officials said the U.S. has notified Baghdad that it will also suspend funding for some counter-terrorism and armed forces training programs until the militia attacks stop and Iraqi officials take steps to disband these armed groups.

(Jin10)