Since 2005, this has manifested into a broad power-sharing agreement between the three, with the largest of them – the Shias – assuming the prime ministerial role, the Kurds taking the presidential one, and the Sunnis securing the role of speaker. This has been seen in the re-entry into Iraq of multiple major oil and gas firms from the West, which have been awarded huge exploration and development contracts that are crucial to the fabric of Iraq’s hydrocarbons sector, as analysed in full in my latest book on the new global oil market order. Indeed, as exclusively revealed to OilPrice.com some years ago by a very high-ranking official from the Kremlin: “By keeping the West out of energy deals in Iraq, the end of Western hegemony in the Middle East will become the decisive chapter in the West’s final demise.” Consequently, the push has been on from Russia and China – especially since the U.S.’s unilateral withdrawal from the ‘nuclear deal’ with Iran in 2018 – to remove all Western firms from southern Iraq and from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan territory in its north as well.
Author: Simon Watkins
Published at: 2025-12-01 22:00:00
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