Ever since the first round of US sanctions on Iran went into force on Aug. 7, there has been no shortage of contradicting statements from Iraqi officials in local media outlets. Parties and militias have proclaimed their willingness to respect the sanctions at times; at other times, they have taken a condemning stance or expressed their dissatisfaction. This puzzling landscape reflects the Iraqi government’s confusion and inadequacy to take an independent and strong stand in a country that has long been the site of a power struggle between the United States and Iran.

One day before the sanctions began, Iraqi President Fuad Masum said in an interview with Alhurra TV channel, “The situation in Iraq and the nature of our relations with Iran makes it difficult for Iraq to comply with the sanctions imposed by Washington on Tehran.” Masum proceeded to stress again how difficult it is to implement those sanctions in conflicting phrasing.

Despite Masum’s confusing response, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi seemed to have a more transparent stance on the sanctions when asked in his weekly press conference on Aug 8. “As a matter of principle we are against sanctions in the region,” he said, before recalling the harsh international sanctions enforced on Iraq in the early 1990s following the regime’s invasion of Kuwait. Abadi asserted that while Iraq “will abide by them to protect the interests of our people," he stressed that Baghdad won’t "interact with [the sanctions] or support them."

Just hours before Abadi’s press conference, Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said in his weekly press conference, “The region’s stance on the US sanctions against Iran will be along the lines of Iraq’s,” implying that he is yet to receive any instructions about dealing with the sanctions. This contradicting rhetoric indicates that the sanctions in question have never been seriously discussed within the Iraqi government, and no instructions have been given about them.