US focus in Iraq is economic, aimed at displacing China and Russia, analyst says

BAGHDAD — The current U.S. administration’s focus in Iraq is primarily economic, aimed at expanding the role of American companies and displacing Chinese and Russian firms, researcher Abdul Salam Barwari said, after U.S. Special Presidential Envoy Tom Barrack’s visit to Iraq on Monday produced a joint statement with Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi emphasizing U.S. investment, particularly in energy.

In an interview on Alsharqiya, Barwari said Barrack’s visit centered on economic and security issues tied to Washington’s desire to resume the operations of oil companies in the Kurdistan Region. Those companies are seeking sovereign and security guarantees from Baghdad rather than Erbil to protect their investments, he said. “Most of the oil companies operating in Kurdistan under official contracts are American companies,” he said. “It is very important for the Americans that these companies resume operations because they have spent millions of dollars under partnership agreements to extract oil.”

Many companies suspended operations in the region’s fields due to continuous drone and missile attacks by Iran-aligned factions on civilian and energy infrastructure. The attacks followed the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, which escalated into a regional conflict. According to Community Peacemaker Teams, the region faced 751 attacks between the start of the conflict and May 28, causing 22 deaths and 112 injuries.

Barwari said the companies want guarantees from the federal government, not the KRG. “They do not have a problem with the region itself; rather, they want sovereign guarantees from Baghdad,” he said. He said a security delegation led by Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Yarallah, which visited the Kurdistan Region two days earlier, was expected to provide those guarantees and pave the way for Barrack’s visit. “The message to the Americans was: we will provide the guarantees necessary for companies to resume production,” he said.

The Kurdistan Region has repeatedly called on the federal government to take “practical measures” to end the attacks and urged international partners to help defend its infrastructure.

Barwari said Iraq urgently needs oil revenues and U.S. dollar inflows, and that restoring Ceyhan pipeline exports to previous levels would take time. “I believe Barrack’s visit focused more on these economic and security issues than on anything else, despite the official statement emphasizing, in a protocol sense, that he came to encourage government formation,” he said.