The U.S. has for years been giving Iraq tens of billions of dollars to help with its finances on the specific condition that the country reduces its imports of gas and electricity from Iran eventually to zero. Iran has wielded enormous power over Iraq for a very long time indeed through its various political, economic, and military proxies. Iraq will pay with its own oil supplies for the gas and electricity that it has long been importing from Iran. Ever since the U.S. officially ended its ‘combat mission’ in Iraq on 31 December 2021, it has been looking for a...