Bypassing Erdogan in a round? Trump's plan to flow Iraqi oil
Washington's special envoy to Syria and Iraq, Tom Barrack, has been working on this file for months, with American energy giant Chevron, French TotalEnergies, and Qatari group UCC already involved in negotiations.
Assessment
Washington appears to be advancing a plan to route Iraqi oil that would sideline Turkey and bypass President Erdogan's leverage over regional energy flows. The involvement of major Western and Qatari energy firms suggests the initiative has serious commercial momentum. The active role of the U.S. special envoy to Syria and Iraq indicates this is a high-level diplomatic and economic maneuver. The key question is whether this alternative corridor can overcome the logistical and political hurdles that have kept Iraqi oil dependent on Turkish pipelines until now.