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Pompeo Urges Peace, Sides with Greece in Turkish Border Dispute

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On Monday, the United States and Greece issued a joint statement calling for a peaceful solution to the ongoing dispute in the Eastern Mediterranean between Greece and Turkey, according to POLITICO.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is visiting Greece for the second time this year, released a joint statement saying that the U.S. and Greece “reaffirmed their belief that maritime delimitation issues should be resolved peacefully.”

The United States and Greece “reaffirmed their belief that maritime delimitation issues should be resolved peacefully,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

The statement continues, emphasizing that the two countries were ready and willing to employ “all appropriate means at their disposal, in order to safeguard stability and security in the wider region.”

The dispute, over potentially abundant natural gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean, has seen tensions between the two Aegean neighbors come closer to war than they have been in twenty-five years. In 1996, the two rival countries, both in NATO, almost clashed over an uninhabited island in the Aegean Sea that lies between them.

In 2016 there were a mind-boggling 16 rounds of talks between the two countries. The nations sought to resolve their maritime border disputes. Those collapsed. Since then, Greco-Turkish relations have worsened dramatically.

Recently, Greece announced that it would be bolstering its military capabilities in what will be its biggest military build-up in decades, according to The Guardian.

This build-up, part of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s €6.8-billion ($7.93B) defense plan, will see Greece purchase 18 French Rafale jets and four multi-purpose frigates, as well as upgrading its current naval vessel and old aircraft, as reported.

Additionally, the relationship between the U.S. and Turkey has also deteriorated severely over the past decade as their objectives in the Middle East have increasingly conflicted with one another. Most notably, they have clashed diplomatically in the drawn-out Syrian Civil War and conflict with the Islamic State (IS) over the roles of Kurdish anti-IS militias and Russian forces.

Following a Tuesday visit to a U.S. naval base on the Greek island of Crete, Sec. Pompeo will depart to visit Croatia, Italy, and the Vatican.

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.

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Iran and Iraq sign controversial five-year contract to continue export of natural gas

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Despite the Biden administration having ‘strongly suggested’ that Iraqis find other ways solve their production problems, they have signed a new deal with Iran. Iraq’s ministry of electricity announced a finalized agreement on Wednesday, of which the Iran regime has signed a five-year contract to continue the export of natural gas for use in Iraq’s power generating plants.

Iraq will import up to 50 million cubic meters per day of the vital fuel; prior, Iraq had been procuring approximately half of that amount from Iranian suppliers, according to The Foreign Desk News.

The outlet notes this relationship between American adversaries has often brought criticism from Washington because the imports and their payments are subject to U.S. sanctions. The government in Baghdad must ask for waivers from the State Department to complete their purchases.

The Foreign Desk News goes on to explain:

Iran’s national gas company has been provisioning their neighbor for the last 10 years, as Iraq has long suffered domestic production problems due to corruption and inadequate infrastructure.

Most of the natural gas that Iraq imports is used to produce power for an unstable and maintenance-prone electrical grid. Service outages are common amid the country’s growing consumption and many residents frequently must rely on private generators during times of disruption.

Including the electricity that Iraq directly purchases from Iran, the Islamic republic is reported to be responsible for supplying nearly a quarter of the country’s total power use.

 

 

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