🔶 Iraq and Syria signed an agreement in Washington to revive the crude oil pipeline

Amid rising tensions in the Middle East and successive military attacks by the U.S. army on targets in Iran, Iraq and Syria signed a memorandum in Washington on Friday for the reconstruction and modernization of the Iraq–Syria crude oil pipeline. The purpose of this project, according to the announcement, is to revive an important export route from Iraq’s oil fields to Syria’s Mediterranean coasts.

The agreement was signed during a meeting of the U.S.–Iraq Business Council, by the head of the Basra Oil Company, on behalf of Iraq, and by the CEO of the Syrian Oil Company, on behalf of Syria. Chris Wright, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, was also present at the signing ceremony.

The U.S. State Department welcomed the agreement and described the project as “a necessary infrastructure project of dual and regional strategic importance.”

According to the U.S. State Department, the country “welcomes the participation of an international consortium led by the United States to carry out the technical and financial aspects of this project.”