Tom Barrack, the US envoy to Iraq and Syria, has said Baghdad can act as a bridge that overcomes Washington's blockade on Iran.
“You don't have to be an adversary to Iran,” he told an audience at the Chatham House Iraq Initiative in London. “You can be the magic key that opens the door.”
Mr Barrack, who is also US President Donald Trump's ambassador to Turkey, said Iraq should set a target of 10 million barrels per day of oil output and seek foreign investors to back the pipelines that would carry it to customers.
The country would continue to use the Strait of Hormuz for its product, he said, but the addition of pipelines would provide prosperity, the only answer to Baghdad's challenges.
“The Strait of Hormuz is great, and that affords the ability to adapt quickly, and everybody loves it, pricing-wise,” Mr Barrack said, as he talked about the fallout for the region since the war on Iran began on February 28. “You need all of the delivery mechanisms. You need the straits, you need the ships but you absolutely need [outlets] for the rest of that six or seven million barrels.
“Business leads the way, and we've got some of the greatest business leaders here. You have American companies, you have French companies, you have Italian companies, you have Middle East companies, all willing to help.”
The US envoy spoke of a “bottom line” where Iraq could leverage its unique assets, including geography, history and reserves, but said rules were still needed to reassure investors.
“Who is going to invest [in Iraq] if they don't have a definable, understandable rule of law?” he asked. “To me, the biggest impediment is not other countries – it’s your own country.”
Mr Barrack said the US would help counsel Iraq on reforms that would enable more investment from US and other oil companies – but that the speed of reform would depend on the Iraqi government itself.
“What is standing in the way, quite honestly, is your bureaucracy,” he said. “My frustration as a diplomat on behalf of the American companies is moving things through the system.”
He told the Iraqi government it needed to free itself from its cash flow crisis, ending the need for the US to be “sending you bundles of cash bubble-wrapped on aeroplanes”.
Asked whether the US would help Iraq develop institutional guarantees for the rights of the Kurds, Mr Barrack responded: “Get over it. This is an Iraqi decision; it’s not an American decision.
“We need unity from the region, not only from the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government). We’re not going to intervene; there’s no way we can intervene.
“We can encourage, we can help, but honestly now is the moment. You have a huge opportunity in front of you,” he said.
He said internal disputes among the Kurdish leadership needed to be resolved internally and that preventing “untenable” attacks on oil and gas fields, such as Khor Mor, should be a priority. The gas field was attacked by a drone in the Kurdistan region last week.
Mr Barrack met Iraqi and Kurdish officials in London this week to discuss bilateral ties and the future of US-Iraqi relations. Among those he met were judge Dr Faiq Zaidan, president of the Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq, and Ahmed Mufti, the KRG's deputy minister for natural resources.
