ERBIL () - Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein announced on Friday, September 25, 2026, that the government is preparing a new plan to address the issue of unlicensed weapons and bring arms under state control, warned that Iraq's economy is the first casualty of the Iran war currently engulfing the region, and confirmed that Iraq is in discussions with the United States about the sanctions imposed on aviation services for Iranian aircraft landing at Iraqi airports.
"After the completion of the international coalition's withdrawal process from Iraq, a new phase begins,"Hussein told reporters on Friday, framing the September 30 coalition departure as a turning point rather than a security vacuum.
On the weapons control file, Hussein said: "The issue is an internal Iraqi matter, and in this regard we are presenting a new plan for this file. Negotiations and discussions regarding the handover of weapons with the relevant parties are ongoing."The statement confirms that the phased disarmament plan announced by Prime Minister al-Zaidi at the UN General Assembly this week, setting June 30, 2027, as the new deadline with a 90-day mutual ceasefire as its first phase, remains an active negotiation rather than a concluded agreement, with Baghdad still in dialogue with the armed factions about the terms of compliance.
Iraq's Economy: The War's First Victim
Hussein's most striking statement came in his warning about the economic consequences of the regional conflict for Iraq. "Iraq's economy is the first victim of the war currently taking place in the region related to Iran,"he said, in the most direct Iraqi official acknowledgment yet of the concrete economic damage that the US-Iran war has inflicted on Baghdad. The war has disrupted Iraq's oil export revenues, generated instability in energy markets, created volatility in the Iraqi dinar, and placed Baghdad in the politically difficult position of being caught between its American partners and its Iranian neighbors simultaneously.
Iranian Airline Sanctions
On the aviation sanctions announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on September 22, 2026, grounding all Iranian airlines worldwide from September 23, Hussein confirmed that Iraq is discussing the matter with the United States. He clarified that Iran has been formally notified by Iraq of the decision to ban Iranian aircraft from Iraqi airports, a diplomatic step that places Baghdad in compliance with the American sanctions framework while managing the notification through official channels rather than unilateral action.
The Iranian airline shutdown, which Bessent announced by threatening dollar system exclusion for any entity worldwide that fuels, services, or sells tickets to Iranian aircraft, directly affects Iraqi airports that had been servicing Iranian carriers throughout the conflict. Hussein's confirmation that Iraq is coordinating with Washington on implementation and has formally notified the Iranian side reflects Baghdad's attempt to manage the compliance requirement without further inflaming its relationship with Tehran at a moment when the diplomatic environment is showing its first positive movements in months.
The foreign minister's statements on Friday come as Iraq navigates its most diplomatically complex week since al-Zaidi took office, with the coalition withdrawal five days away, the militia disarmament file still unresolved, the Saudi pipeline drone attack from Iraqi territory generating regional pressure, and the indirect US-Iran talks through Qatar and at the UNGA margins producing the first concrete Iranian proposal for a Hormuz deal in months.
