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After a record-setting 2019, annual oil output fell by about 760,000 bpd as Iraq made extraordinary cuts to help support global prices.

The Iraqi Drilling Company completes drilling at the Gharraf oil field, Dec. 6, 2020. (STAFF/Iraq Oil Report)

UPDATE: This story has been updated to reflect a new production estimate, which was revised upward based on new reporting.

Iraq's nationwide crude production rose slightly to about 4.05 million barrels per day (bpd) in December, capping a year of OPEC-related constraints that yielded the lowest output since 2015.

Fields managed by the federal government produced about 3.57 million bpd in December an increase of 3 percent compared to November while those under the authority of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) rose slightly to 477,000 bpd, according to an Iraq Oil Report analysis based on data gathered independently from each producing field. *

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UPDATE: Iraq production rises in December, capping an OPEC-constrained year - Iraq Oil Report

The United States has imposed counterterrorism sanctions through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on five individuals from Iraq, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, the US Department of the Treasury announced in a statement on Tuesday.

The five individuals are Muhammad Abbatay born in Morocco, Isma'il Fu'ad Rasul Ahmed from Iraq, Sultan Yusuf Hasan al-Arif from Saudi Arabia, Fuad Ahmad Nuri Ali al-Shakhan from Saudi Arabia and Niamat Hama Rahim Hama Sharif, orginally from Iraq, the statement said.

US has designated them each as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), according to the US Treasury Departments website.

US media reported on Monday that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to use newly declassified US intelligence to publicly accuse Iran of ties to al Qaeda in a speech on Tuesday, two people familiar with the matter said, as part of his last-minute offensive against Tehran before handing over to the incoming Biden administration.

(With inputs from agencies)

Link:
US targets 5 individuals from Iraq, Morocco and Saudi Arabia with counter terrorism sanctions: Treasury department - WION

Prominent Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr has warned of postponing early elections scheduled for 6 June and called on the Iraqi people to update their electoral records.

Head of Al-Sadr's media office Haider Al-Jaber told reporters that "instigators of sedition" have called to cancel or postpone the early elections, adding that Al-Sadr warns against postponing the elections, and hopes that: "Everyone shows wisdom and works together for the success of these elections."

"Al-Sadr supports the campaign led by the prime minister against corruption," Al-Jaber explained, adding that all parties must support the campaign and refer the corrupt to the judiciary.

Last Saturday, Iraqi Minister of Culture Hassan Nazim confirmed the government's desire to have international observers oversee the elections to ensure fairness.

Earlier, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi stressed his government's determination to hold the early elections as scheduled on 6 June.

READ: Gunmen assassinate pro-Sadr military leader in Iraq

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Iraq: Prominent Shia leader Al-Sadr warns of postponing early elections - Middle East Monitor

CAIRO - Iraqi state TV announced Tuesday the country is suffering from a major electricity crisis following the drastic reduction of natural gas supplies by Iran, from 50 million to 5 million cubic meters.

Tehran says Baghdad must pay at least several billion dollars of an estimated $5 billion debt it owes Tehran for natural gas and electricity.

Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian met top Iraqi officials, including Electricity Minister Majid Hantush and Central Bank Governor Mustapha Ghaleb, during a visit to Baghdad on Tuesday to discuss the crisis.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander Mustapha Qa'ani reportedly also met with Tehran's Shi'ite militia allies in Baghdad during the past several days.

The visits come amid tensions between Iraqi Prime Minister Mustapha Kadhimi and pro-Iranian Shi'ite militia commanders, including Qais al Khazali, leader of the Asa'ib Ahl al Haq militia, over the arrest of militia members accused of firing rockets at the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad.

Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said in a press conference Tuesday in Tehran that Iran has no ties to the militias firing rockets at the embassy and that Washington "knows that many different groups in Iraq want to end its occupation of the country." He accused the U.S. of provoking tensions in the region.

The spokesman said Washington is responsible for tensions in the Gulf, adding it must stop what he called its "cross-border intervention" and "adventurism" in the region.

Next week marks the first anniversary of a U.S. drone strike that killed top Iranian military commander General Qassem Soleimani as his convoy left Baghdad Airport. Some Iranian leaders and their Iraqi militia allies have vowed to avenge Soleimani's death.

Former Iranian President Abolhassan Bani Sadr told VOA the situation in Iraq is chaotic and the Iraqi government is both "financially bankrupt and politically paralyzed." For these reasons, he said he doubts Iran is trying to topple the government of Prime Minister Kadhimi.

He said toppling the regime only makes sense when there is a functioning government, but the state is paralyzed, and the government does not function. Iraq, he added, is now struggling to maintain both an internal equilibrium between Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds, and an external equilibrium between Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Bani Sadr said that he doesn't think Iran will react on the one-year anniversary of the death of Soleimani, because it is "not militarily strong enough." Most Iranian government spokesmen, he said, are calling for "non-military revenge."

Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Christopher Miller said in November that U.S. forces inside Iraq would be drawn down to approximately 2,500 personnel by January 2021.

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Iran's Energy Minister Visits Iraq After Slashing Natural Gas Exports - Voice of America

It was past 10:00 on a Friday night, and the party was in full swing. Hundreds of young men and women had come to Baghdad's swanky Ishtar Hotel, leaving the dusty, grimy city at the doorstep to mingle at the elegant outdoor pool. Sipping nonalcoholic drinks and straining their voices to overcome music blasting from a sound system, their chatter was suddenly interrupted by a group of men who burst onto the patio, assault rifles clattering by their sides.

Without explanation, they arrested around a dozen partygoers, dragging them along as they left almost as swiftly as they had appeared. Among those whisked away was Arshad Fakhry. The 31-year-old had organized the pool party, the latest in a series of events that had earned him the reputation as Baghdad's party king.

Most of those arrested were released on the streets outside the hotel. But Fakhry and another man, a nephew of a government minister, were bundled into a car and driven away. According to Fakhry's brother Amjad, the minister's nephew was released two days later, delivered to his uncle's office blindfolded. Fakhry, who has no powerful relatives to fall back on, vanished without a trace.

Arshad Fakhry was abducted outside Baghdad's swanky Ishtar Hotel

His family is desperate to find out what happened after his kidnappingon November 20. For weeks, they have pleaded for information with government officials and worked their extensive network of relatives and friends in Baghdad. Their efforts have been met by a wall of silence.

But that silence carries its own message. In Iraq, forced disappearances are common. Most are carried out by shadowy militia groups collectively known as the Hashed al Shaabi. They have the muscle and influence to make almost anyone disappear and inspire the kind of fear that stops people from speaking out.

"We are told that he is not with the secret service. Yesterday I heard from a relative that he might be held by Hashed Intelligence. But we don't know for sure. We don't even know if he is alive or dead,"says Amjad.

Prime Minster Mustafa al-Kadhimi earlier this year pledged to crack down on forced disappearances. Fakhry's kidnapping suggests that little has changed, even though the Hashed are officially part of Iraq's security forces.

"The reality is that the prime minister of Iraq is not actually in command control of most of the forces that sit under him on paper, and that includes the Popular Mobilization Forces," says Belkis Wille, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The Hashed, also called Popular Mobilization Forces by Western observers, are predominantly Shia armed groups that grew in size and numberduring the war on the Islamic State group (IS). After the Iraq military crumbled under the ISonslaught, the militias played a crucial role in defeating the terror group. Many were formed during the years of insurgency and sectarian strife that followed the US-led invasion in 2003, and have strong ties to neighboring Iran. Victory over IShas left them more powerful than ever.

Like their vanquished foes, many are religious fundamentalists that take their cues from Tehran's mullahs. Their piety has not prevented them from taking part inthe plunder of Iraq's resources through graft or force.When Iraq's youth took to the streets last year to protest government corruption and an economy that offered them few prospects, the Hashed joined security forces in gunning down hundreds of peaceful protesters.

"The Popular Mobilization Forces are playing a very dominant role in repressing a wave of demands for liberalization, for accepting different lifestyles, different views. That includes forcibly disappearing people but that also includes carrying out extrajudicial killings and threats," says Belkis Wille.

Organizing parties where men and women mixed freely to the sound of Western music, Fakhrywas a thorn in the side of these groups. Before long, anonymous threat started pouring in.

"He was threatened a lot before this party. He was holding these events, pushing something new, he was really successful. They got irritated,"says a friend of Fakhry who does not want to be identified.

Fakhrywas not intimidated. In videos published by Riot Gear, the event company that he founded, revelers are seen dancing to DJ sets featuring the latest rap anthems, and to the tunes of local rock and hip hop bands performing on stage.

"Arshad wanted to bring culture from abroad to Iraq,"says his brother Amjad. Baghdad's cool kids lapped it up.

A fluent English speaker, Fakhrywas exposed tooutside influences long before he ventured into the party business. During the war on IS, he worked with foreign journalists, organizing interviews and visits to the front lines. During the grueling, months-long battle for the city of Mosul, he drove reporters to the war zone in his flashy Mustang sports car, speeding over pockmarked roads and past bombed out buildings.

His love for fast and loud cars found expression in Riot Gear, originally founded to organize drifting contests, where drivers shred their wheels as they spin their cars over the tarmac. To raise money for children affected by the fighting, Fakhryorganized one such contest outside Mosul. It had to be abandoned when ISattacked the event with drones.

With the terror group defeated, liberal-minded Iraqis like Fakhryface a different kind of threat.

"For us young people, the biggest problem is the lack of freedom. The Iran-aligned militias and the government control everything," saysAmjad.

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Iraq: The disappearance of Baghdad's party king - DW (English)