TEHRAN – Iraq is close to finalizing a deal that will allow it to import Iranian energy despite American sanctions by avoiding the U.S. dollar, an Iraqi official said on Tuesday, BNN Bloomberg reported.

“A big delegation came from the Iranian central bank and the idea was proposed to trade with Iran in euros,” Abdulkarim Hashim Mustafa, special adviser to Iraq’s prime minister, said in an interview in Moscow. 

“These are American sanctions and we have the right to protect our national interests,” Mustafa said. “We tell them always: we are your friends but we are not part of your policies in the region. The Americans are well aware of this -- it isn’t news for them.”

MH/PA