Kurdish trade officials say they have not yet been ordered to halt any imports from Iran, even as Washington rolls out its most sweeping sanctions campaign against Tehran to date.
Nawzad Sheikh Kamil, director general of trade at the Kurdistan Region's Ministry of Trade and Industry, told Rudaw late Tuesday that the new US measures "have not yet entered the implementation phase," and that the coming days would show their real impact on the Region.
His comments come two days after the US Treasury Department unveiled "Operation Economic Outcast," an escalation Secretary Scott Bessent had teased for over a week as an "economic D-Day." The campaign sanctioned nearly 60 entities, individuals and vessels, and expanded secondary-sanctions exposure to five sectors Washington says sustain Iran's economy: digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping. Bessent said the goal is to "sever every economic lifeline" until "Tehran stands alone." Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed the campaign as a "diversion" from America's own debt problems.
The stakes for Kurdistan are unusually high. Iran-Iraq trade reached roughly $12 billion in 2024, with the Kurdistan Region's eastern border crossings accounting for an estimated 40 to 60 percent of that flow. The Region's economy is also already reeling: Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said this month that trade had fallen more than 70 percent since the US-Iran war began in late February, after more than 1,000 missile and drone strikes hit the Region.
Kamil said essential goods would keep flowing regardless of the new measures. "According to US laws, sanctions do not include food products, medicine, and health supplies," he said, adding that food, dairy and vegetable imports would continue "on the condition that the companies conducting the business are not on the US blacklist." He said his directorate has received no instructions to halt imports of any specific Iranian product, and would notify traders through the media once it does.
The episode echoes a recurring dilemma for Erbil: in 2019, the KRG revised a ban on Iranian oil-product exports under US pressure, later adding exemptions after complaints from Iranian officials. With Baghdad's own oil exports throttled by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and a separate trade dispute simmering between Erbil and the federal government, Kurdistan now finds itself squeezed from several directions as Washington pushes allies to cut Tehran off entirely.