Iraqi PM says Iraq's oil is for Iraqis

EghtesadOnline: Iraq's oil is the property of Iraqis, the country's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday, in reaction to US President Donald Trump who argued that the United States should have taken possession of the nation's crude reserves.

News ID: ۷۳۹۴۲۶

25 January 2017

In a speech to CIA officials on Saturday, Trump suggested that the United States should have taken Iraq's oil in reimbursement for the 2003 invasion that put an end to Saddam's rule.

Trump also suggested that taking Iraq's oil would have prevented Daesh from rising up, by removing a source of the group's funding, IRNA reported.

'It wasn't clear what he meant,' Abadi told a news conference when asked about Trump's comments, dispatches reported.

'Did he mean in 2003 or to prevent the terrorists from seizing Iraq's oil?, Reuters quoted Iraqi prime minister.

'Iraq's oil is constitutionally the property of the Iraqis,' he said.

The new US president has also sent messages offering to increase the level of assistance to Iraq, Abadi said, without giving details on the nature of the assistance.

'I've got assurances from President Trump that the assistance to Iraq will continue and that it will also increase,' Abadi told a news conference in Baghdad.