Iraq’s partisan and official positions on how to deal with US sanctions on Iran clashed as President Fuad Masum declared it ‘difficult’ for Baghdad to comply with the first wave of Washington-imposed economic sanctions against Tehran, but Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi affirmed his commitment. “In principle, we are against imposing sanctions on the people. Iraq paid a steep price for unjust sanctions imposed 13 years ago to weaken the former regime, and it led to the disruption of our people and destroyed the Iraqi social fabric,” Abadi told a press conference on Tuesday evening. He added that previous sanctions only empowered the former regime to implement the worst repressive policies against the people. Based on first-hand experience, Abadi said that although Iraq will abide by the sanctions, it does not support them. “We will abide by them not to direct Iraqis into harm’s way and to protect our people, we cannot depart from the international system and world economy, and we cannot harm the interests of our people.” On the other hand, Masum said in a televised statement that the circumstances of Iraq and the nature of its relations with Iran make it difficult for it to abide by the anti-Tehran sanctions. “Iraq must not be with one party against another in the current conflicts,” he said. As for what appears to be a contradiction in positions, Iraqi presidential adviser Sherwan al-Waeli told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the president and the prime minister reject the principle of sanctions because it does not punish regimes as much as it does the people.” “Iraq has already suffered from sanctions imposed against its former ruling regime, which left a severe impact on Iraqis, yet did not weaken the regime in any way.” “The special conditions which apply when it comes to a relationship joining two neighboring countries such as Iraq and Iran is well known, and the United States must understand,” he said. “While the prime minister stressed that Iraq, despite the refusal, will abide, he wants to show that national interests come first.” “This is not the first time that the US has imposed sanctions on Iran, but in terms of the degree of Iraqs commitment to them, there is something that is absolutely binding and is related to dollar and euro bound remittances,” Iraqi economist Dr. Majid al-Suri told Asharq Al-Awsat. “But what cannot be controlled is dollar-free trade exchange between the two countries which is conducted away from bank regulations,” he added. Suri went on to say that the Iraqi-Iranian border is long and porous, in an explanation that at times trade flow between the two countries can go unmonitored by authorities.