ERBIL () - A senior financial adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has rejected reports that Washington has threatened to suspend dollar shipments to Iraq unless Iran-aligned armed groups surrender their weapons by Sept. 30, directly disputing claims previously made to by two Iraqi government sources.
Mazhar Mohammed Saleh told that reports of impending US financial sanctions or a halt to dollar shipments were "rumors"with no factual basis.
Saleh said the United States had not formally raised such a measure with the Iraqi government and that claims linking dollar transfers to a Sept. 30 disarmament deadline were untrue.
He added that the source of the reports was unclear.
According to Saleh, relations between Baghdad and Washington continue to operate within the framework of the 2008 Strategic Framework Agreement, which governs broad areas of cooperation between Iraq and the United States.
His comments represent the most direct official rejection so far of reports that Washington had tied Iraq's access to dollar liquidity to the disarmament of armed factions.
The denial follows reporting on Sunday in which two sources familiar with the Iraqi government said the Trump administration had warned Baghdad that monthly dollar transfers could be suspended if Iran-aligned armed groups failed to surrender their weapons by Sept. 30.
According to those sources, the warning was delivered during al-Zaidi's visit to Washington.
They said US officials had told the prime minister that Baghdad's failure to prevent armed factions from targeting American or regional interests would negatively affect bilateral relations and that the issue of weapons outside state control needed to be resolved.
stated in that earlier report that it had not independently obtained a US government document confirming the ultimatum and that no public statement from Washington had verified it.
Saleh's remarks now place the previous account in direct dispute.
The issue had also been raised earlier by Jamal Kochar, a member of the Iraqi Parliament's Finance Committee.
Kochar told that the United States could potentially impose sanctions affecting Iraq's banking sector and foreign-currency reserves if armed groups refused to disarm and continued activities viewed as destabilizing.
His comments addressed what Washington could do rather than confirming that such action had already been ordered.
The distinction is important.
US authorities have significant influence over dollar flows into Iraq because of the structure of Iraq's financial system and longstanding US oversight of dollar transactions involving Iraqi banks.
But that existing leverage does not by itself establish that Washington has issued the specific Sept. 30 ultimatum described by the two sources.
Concerns over dollar access have nevertheless been a recurring issue in Iraq-US relations.
Washington has previously tightened oversight of Iraqi banks and dollar transfers amid concerns that US currency was being diverted to sanctioned neighboring countries or actors.
Such measures have at times contributed to pressure on Iraq's parallel exchange market and intensified political debate over the country's dependence on dollar liquidity.
That background has made any suggestion of a cutoff particularly sensitive.
Previous reporting noted that Iraq's oil revenues are held through the Central Bank of Iraq's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, giving the US financial system an important role in the flow of dollars into Iraq.
Read More: U.S. Warns Iraq: Disarm Militias by Sept. 30 or Dollar Transfers Stop
A significant disruption could therefore have implications for foreign-currency availability, exchange-rate stability and import financing.
No such cutoff has been announced in the supplied reporting.
The latest statements leave two competing versions of events.
Two Iraqi government sources told that Washington had delivered a direct warning linking Sept. 30 to militia disarmament and dollar transfers.
Saleh, by contrast, says no such issue was formally raised with the Iraqi government and describes reports of a planned suspension as false.
No official US statement included in the supplied material confirms either a Sept. 30 financial ultimatum or a decision to halt dollar shipments.
For now, the clearest development is that a senior adviser to the Iraqi prime minister has publicly rejected the claim.
The broader dispute over armed factions, weapons outside state control and Washington's ability to exert pressure through Iraq's financial system remains politically significant, but the existence of a specific US order to stop dollar transfers by Sept. 30 remains contested.
