US media reports that the US government has halted the shipment of US dollars to Iraq

According to The Wall Street Journal on the 21st, citing sources from Iraqi and U.S. officials, the Trump administration has suspended the delivery of U.S. dollars to Iraq and has halted security cooperation projects with the Iraqi military in order to increase pressure on Iraq and force it to disband Iran-backed militia groups. Reportedly, in recent times, Iraqi militia groups have repeatedly attacked U.S. facilities in Iraq and neighboring countries to show support for Iran. Out of concern about the militias, officials from the U.S. Department of the Treasury have recently prevented a cargo plane carrying nearly 500 million U.S. dollars in cash from taking off. The funds were originally meant to be stored in accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, derived from revenue from Iraq’s oil sales. U.S. and Iraqi officials said this is the second time since the outbreak of the Iran war at the end of February this year that the United States has delayed transferring U.S. dollars to Iraq’s central bank.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, Thomas Pignott, said, “The United States will not tolerate attacks on American interests and hopes the Iraqi government will immediately take all measures to dissolve Iraqi militia groups linked to Iran.” The Wall Street Journal said that after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the United States stored in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue Iraq earns every year from oil sales. The United States ships up to 13 billion U.S. dollars in cash to Baghdad every year to keep its highly cash-dependent economic system operating normally. The Wall Street Journal said the U.S. has informed Iraq that until the militia groups stop their attacks and Iraq disbands these armed groups, the U.S. will also pause funding for some Iraqi counter-terrorism and armed forces training programs. (Xinhua)