Iran Continues To Cut Natural Gas Exports To Iraq

Iran has once again decreased its natural gas exports to Iraq. This is leading to widespread blackouts in central Iraq just as the oppressive heat of summer approaches.

 

June 3 Iraq’s Electricity Minister announced that it lost 5000 megawatts of power due to a decline in Iranian natural gas. Tehran has said nothing about the cuts.

 

In the middle of May Iran began decreasing its energy exports to Iraq. On May 22 the Electricity Ministry said that its production was down 3500 megawatts because Iran was not sending as much gas. As a result Diyala had up to 16 hour power outages.

 

This is just the latest example of how Tehran is an unreliable partner for Iraq. In November 2024 Iran said it was doing 15 days of maintenance work to its gas network which meant a decrease in supply to Baghdad. That work lasted for over a month and cost its neighbor 8000 megawatts. Then in January Iran’s electricity line to Diyala went down and then again in March.

 

Tehran has had a number of reasons for its up and down exports to Iraq. Originally in 2018 it said that Iraq had not paid its bills and halted delivery of gas and electricity off and on. That was largely resolved by the early 2020s however. Other times Iran has had to use its energy for its own domestic needs especially during the winter. Recently there has been few explanations and sometimes Iran has been silent.

 

Iraq is especially vulnerable to these fluctuations. It relies upon Iranian gas and electricity for 40% of its power output. It especially needs them as Iraq is expecting another hot summer when power demand surges.

 

Baghdad has signed various deals with other neighboring countries to diversify its supply but nothing has come close to the amount it gets from Iran. It is also under pressure from the Trump administration to move away from Iran. Washington ended Iraq’s waiver from sanctions to buy Iranian energy but has continued to do so.

 

Ultimately this is a failure of the Iraqi government. It doesn’t charge users so there is no cap on demand which continues to increase nearly every year. New power stations are built but supply has never been able to catch up with the growing usage. Most of the elite are also aligned with Iran and do not want to move away from it even though it is not a good friend. That means these problems will continue into the foreseeable future.

 

SOURCES

 

Al Mada, “The power fuel agreement with Tehran may anger Washington,” 7/12/23

 

 Middle East Monitor, “Iran cuts electricity supplies to Iraq over unpaid bills,” 7/7/18

 

Shafaq News, “Blackout in Diyala: Power grid collapses after Iranian cutoff,” 3/6/25

Al Mada, “Iranian gas outage costs Iraq 5,000 megawatts,” 6/3/25

Shafaq News, “Diyala: Iranian Mersad power line stop unexpectedly, cause unknown,” 1/24/25

Shafaq News, “Iranian power cuts deepen electricity crisis in Diyala,” 5/26/25

 

Xinhua, “Iraq loses 3,500 megawatts of electricity due to drop in Iranian gas imports,” 5/23/25

 

Al Zawra, "The system lost more than 7 thousand megawatts ... Electricity: Iranian gas outage to continue for another 15 days,” 12/19/24