Hard Number: US holds up cash for Iraq

Iraq is caught in an ever-tightening vise. The US Treasury recently blocked the delivery of nearly half a billion dollars in US banknotes to Iraq’s central bank, proceeds from Iraqi oil sales that are held by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The US said it wants Iraq to dismantle Iranian proxies in the country, who claimed responsibility for attacks on a US air base and a US embassy in Baghdad last month. Yet as GZERO’s Zac Weisz reported last week, Iraq still retains a diplomatic and economic relationship with Iran, and desperately wants to remain neutral in this war.