BAGHDAD (Dispatches) -- Iraqi Oil Minister Basim Khudair announced that deals struck with U.S. energy corporations during Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s visit to Washington are valued at nearly $200 billion. 
The agreements, involving Chevron, Halliburton, and HKN Energy, aim to develop key oilfields—including Hamrin, West Qurna-2, and Nasiriyah—and construct the Haditha-Baniyas oil pipeline to Syria.
Khudair stated the deals will raise Iraq’s production capacity, create jobs, and achieve gas self-sufficiency by 2030. Current production stands at 4.8 million barrels per day, with Baghdad in serious discussions with OPEC to increase exports.
But a more disturbing reality lurks beneath the headlines. Twenty-three years after the U.S. invasion, Iraq remains financially shackled to Washington. 
Approximately 90% of Iraq’s national budget—derived from crude sales—is deposited directly into an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. This means the cash used to pay civil servants, import food, and stabilize the Iraqi dinar must physically pass through U.S. hands.
When the Trump administration suspended a $500 million cargo shipment in April 2026 and halted monthly inflows exceeding $1 billion, it did not freeze “foreign aid”—it froze Iraq’s own property. 
The Development Fund for Iraq, established after the 2003 invasion, has become a tool of economic coercion rather than the safeguard it was purported to be.
Iraqi officials have publicly bristled at Washington’s framing of financial restrictions as an anti-corruption crusade. 
Critics point to the 2008 Wall Street bailouts, Super PAC influence, and Panama Papers revelations as evidence that the U.S. has no moral high ground to lecture anyone on financial honesty.
Meanwhile, Iraq’s infrastructure remains obliterated after years of occupation, war, and neglect. The government has spent an estimated $100 billion on electricity projects alone, yet blackouts remain a daily reality. 
Peak demand exceeds 40 gigawatts, while actual generation rarely exceeds 23 gigawatts. Schools rely on generators, hospitals cope with intermittent power, and businesses struggle to function.
Despite hosting some of the world’s greatest crude reserves—and now signing $200 billion in new deals—Iraq cannot keep the lights on because its oil revenue is held hostage in New York.
For Iraqis, the lesson is bitter but clear: as long as their oil dollars pass through the New York Fed, they will never truly be free. Washington claims to champion sovereignty while becoming the primary obstacle to Iraq achieving it—using cash reserves as a cudgel to enforce regional hegemony.