Iraqi Electricity Ministry spokesman Ahmad Musa said, "the reduction in electricity supply hours is due to Iran's failure to export gas to Iraq as agreed, and that has affected the supply of electricity, coupled with problems in the power lines that need to be fixed."

On June 19, Iran and Iraq signed a long-term deal to assuage Iraq’s acute power problems. The deal came after a Saudi deal that aims to link Iraq’s power grid to the Gulf’s.

Saudi Arabia and Iraq signed an executive report on the principles of the electricity interconnection agreement between the two countries implementing the memorandum of understanding signed at the beginning of 2022.

According to a spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, Iraq generally imports 50 to 70 million cubic meters of gas a day from Iran in summer and winter, which generates electricity. Recently, imports from Iran reached 5 to 8 million cubic meters per day, so much so that some production units stopped operating.

The United States has given Baghdad a waiver to import its energy needs from Iran as Washington has spearheaded one of the toughest sanctions in history on Iran.