US halts shipment of Iraq’s oil dollars to curb Iran-linked groups: WSJ

A plane carrying nearly $500m in US banknotes from Iraq’s oil revenues was blocked by the US Treasury, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

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The United States has halted shipments of US dollars to Iraq and paused some security cooperation programmes with the Iraqi military, increasing pressure on Baghdad to curb powerful Iran-aligned groups, according to Iraqi and US officials cited by The Wall Street Journal.

The report said a recent cargo plane shipment carrying nearly $500m in US banknotes was blocked by the US Department of the Treasury. The money came from Iraqi oil revenues held in accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.