Baghdad reported disruptions in Iranian gas supplies to its power plants, but blamed the US blockade for the outages on the island of Havana.
Both Iraq and Cuba have been plunged into nationwide darkness, with the Middle Eastern country’s grid down after a sudden drop in gas supplies to a key power plant in Basra, while the Caribbean island outage has been blamed on chronic fuel shortages exacerbated by the US embargo on Venezuelan oil.
A day before the Iraqi blackout, a spokesman for the Ministry of Power was quoted as saying “Incomplete Supply” Gas from neighboring Iran is already affecting power plant operations. Iran has been facing a massive US-Israeli air campaign since Saturday.
A separate power facility was shut down in central Salah al-Din province, with local police categorically denying reports that the station had been targeted, state-run INA news agency said.
Iraq depends on Iranian gas for 30-40% of its electricity production. Dependency is a direct result of decades of foreign intervention in the country. Before the 1991 Gulf War, the grid, although strained by sanctions, largely met demand. The war destroyed 75% of its production capacity, and the 2003 US-led invasion caused a catastrophic drop to less than 10% of previous production.
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Blackouts hit Cuba on Wednesday, with widespread power outages plunging roughly two-thirds of the island into darkness, including the capital, Havana.
According to Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines, the blackout was caused by a shutdown at one of the island’s largest thermoelectric power plants.
The island nation’s chronic fuel shortages have been exacerbated by a US embargo on oil from Venezuela. Since US forces kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January, Washington has seized several tankers bound for Cuba.
The Cuban government blames its economic crisis on decades of US sanctions, which it says directly contribute to a lack of investment in power generation and its crumbling electric grid.
In this background, US President Donald Trump indicated last week that America “Friendly Possession of Cuba” The island nation’s government claims it is on the brink of collapse and is actively negotiating with Washington.
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