The Trump administration’s decision to revoke Iraq’s sanctions waiver, which previously allowed the country to import natural gas from Iran to generate up to 40 percent of its electricity, has plunged Iraq into a severe energy crisis. Already struggling with unreliable Iranian supplies, Iraq now faces an even more precarious situation, as it used imports from Iran to generate about 10 gigawatts of power. The move, in line with President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy against Iran, seeks to coerce Tehran into negotiating a new nuclear agreement while cutting off its financial and logistical support to paramilitary groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

Washington allowed the temporary waiver to expire on March 7, warning Baghdad that it must end its reliance on Iran for energy and work towards self-sufficiency. The waiver was initially issued in 2018 after Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated under former President Barack Obama. However, Trump never supported the JCPOA and sought to impose harsher terms on Iran. His administration’s strategy of economic strangulation has placed Iraq in a difficult position, forcing it to navigate between its historical ties to Iran and its obligations to the US.

While Trump has invited Iranian leaders to negotiate or face “massive destruction,” he is simultaneously pressuring Iraq into a position where it must rapidly diversify its energy sources despite lacking the necessary infrastructure. Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, has the 12th-largest natural gas reserves globally but remains incapable of fully utilizing its own resources due to inadequate infrastructure for capturing, processing, and distributing gas. Much of Iraq’s natural gas is associated gas, which is extracted alongside crude oil but often flared instead of being captured and used for energy generation.

Decades of conflict, sanctions, and instability have left Iraq’s energy sector in disrepair. The........

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