ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran cut around half of the electricity it provides to Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala on Saturday for unknown reasons, causing a partial blackout, a local official said.
“More than 300 megawatts of electricity have been reduced in Diyala. This shortage has severely impacted the electricity situation in the eastern, northern, and northeastern areas of the province,” Aws al-Mahdawi, a member of the Diyala Provincial Council told Rudaw on Sunday.
Regarding the cause of the power cut, Mahdawi stated that the reason is still unclear, and they are awaiting clarification from the Iranian side. He mentioned, “It could be a technical issue or related to re-programming codes.”
The Iranian authorities have yet to comment on the issue.
The Mirsad power line has been disrupted multiple times in the past. During Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani’s visit to Tehran in early January, Iraqi Electricity Minister Ziyad Ali Fadhil announced that 625 megawatts of electricity would be restored through the Mirsad, Karkha, and Siril lines as part of discussions with Iranian officials.
Iraqi areas bordering Iran partially rely on Iranian electricity. Iraq is also heavily dependent on gas imports from the neighboring country to prop up its production of electricity.
Washington has repeatedly renewed a four-month waiver to Baghdad in a bid to help the country provide sufficient electricity to its people. The waivers help Iraq bypass existing US sanctions on Iranian exports and are intended to act only as a short-term stopgap until Iraq is able to wean itself off of Iran for its energy needs.
The US government in summer extended its sanctions waiver for Iraq to purchase electricity from Iran for another 120 days, which is expiring soon.
