Tishwash: Meeting between the foreign ministers of Iraq and Iran to contain the escalation
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein met on Sunday with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araqchi, to discuss developments in the regional escalation, on the sidelines of the 51st session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Foreign Ministers.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement received by Shafaq News Agency that this meeting is the second between the two ministers since the beginning of the current crisis. The meeting addressed the latest security developments in the region, in light of the US military strike against key nuclear sites in Iran.
During the meeting, Iranian Minister Abbas Araqchi gave a detailed presentation on the impact of these attacks, indicating that his country is taking several steps to respond. He also indicated Iran’s intention to approach the UN Security Council for an emergency session at the invitation of Russia.
For his part, Minister Fuad Hussein stressed the importance of activating the open-ended ministerial contact committee, an initiative proposed by Iraq within the framework of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, with the aim of containing the crisis and opening channels for dialogue that would contribute to reaching peaceful solutions and avoiding further escalation in the region. link
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Tishwash: Iraq buys $30 billion in US Treasury bonds
The US Treasury Department announced that the total holdings of global bonds this year reached more than $9 trillion, while Iraq remains outside the top 20 countries with the largest holdings of these bonds for the second year.
The Treasury said in its latest 2025 table that “Iraq did not increase its holdings of US bonds, which remained at around $30 billion, so it did not enter the top twenty largest holders of US bonds.”
It added that “global holdings of US bonds amounted to $9 trillion and 13 billion.”
It indicated that “Japan is the largest holder of US bonds, with $1.134 trillion, followed by the United Kingdom, which owns $807 billion, followed by China with $757 billion, the Cayman Islands came in fourth with $448 billion, and Belgium with $411 billion.”
In the Arab world, “Saudi Arabia and the UAE were among the top twenty countries with the largest holdings of US bonds, with their holdings amounting to $134 billion and $113 billion, respectively.”
Iraq owns approximately $32 billion in US bonds, which are considered one of the country’s private reserves. link
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Tishwash: Three reasons identified…the Parliamentary Finance Committee rules out sending budget tables to Parliament
Hussein Mounes, a member of the Iraqi Parliament’s Finance Committee, ruled out on Saturday the government’s submission of the federal budget schedules, while reviewing the main reasons for this move.
“There are several reasons for the government’s exclusion from sending the federal budget schedules to parliament, most notably the financial deficit, unstable financial revenues, the lack of a real economic vision, and the approaching date of the legislative elections,” Mounes told Shafaq News Agency.
He added, “The large deficit in the budget law amounts to 80 trillion dinars, which puts the government in a difficult position due to the lack of a real economic vision for completing the budget tables and submitting them to Parliament.”
Parliamentary Finance Committee member Moeen Al-Kadhimi previously indicated that the budget schedules would likely reach parliament in early July.
Al-Kadhimi told Shafaq News Agency at the time that the Ministry of Finance had completed its observations on the budget law’s schedules and submitted them to the Council of Ministers to express the government’s opinion on the nature of the budget and the total amount compared to last year, in light of the decline in revenues achieved during the current year .
Al-Kadhimi explained that the Ministry of Finance is preparing the final schedules for the budget law after receiving the government’s response to the submitted comments. He noted that the draft 2025 budget law is expected to be referred to the House of Representatives early next month after its approval by the Council of Ministers .
The delay in approving the 2025 federal budget in Iraq threatens financial stability, service and development projects, the disbursement of salaries and benefits, and other repercussions that directly impact the daily lives of Iraqi families, according to observers .
Observers believe the budget has become a “political tool” during election seasons, used as a means of pressure and bargaining between blocs, without regard for the impact of these procrastinations, which have continued for more than half a year .
Legal experts also believe that delaying the disbursement of financial allocations stipulated in the budget law constitutes a form of administrative corruption and opens the way for lawsuits to be filed against entities obstructing the implementation of the law . link
