ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq is in communication with Iran to allow some oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz so that it can resume exports which have been halted since the start of the regional conflict, said Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani.

“There's communication with the Iranian side by relevant authorities regarding allowing some tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz so we can resume exports,” Abdul Ghani said in aninterview with local media.

Iran has largely suspended shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping routes and its most vital oil transit chokepoint, with Iranian forces attacking several vessels attempting to cross it.

Iraq is among the countries most affected by the disruption in oil traffic, leading to a halt in exports from its southern oil fields, which produce the majority of the country’s crude.

Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Monday stressed that oil exports through the Gulf will face “significant difficulties” due to the restrictions on traffic through the waterway.

Asked about reports that Iran would not allow American tankers through the Strait, Abdul Ghani said that “most of the companies that buy Iraqi oil are primarily Chinese and Indian.”

“More than two-thirds of the oil exported from the Gulf goes to China and India,” Abdul Ghani stressed.

Baghdad is currently seeking alternative measures to resume oil exports, with experts warning that a prolonged halt could worsen the economic situation and impact salary disbursements in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

Kurdish authorities have declared openness to cooperate with Baghdad on the matter, but have stressed that the Iraqi government must lift its trade embargo imposed on the Kurdistan Region since the start of the year.

Iraqi authorities previously called on the Kurdistan Region to allow the transfer of the stranded oil through the Ceyhan pipeline, a proposal the Region said it accepted under certain conditions that Baghdad refused to meet.

The Iraqi government then announced efforts to resume oil exports from pipelines connecting the Kirkuk oil fields to Turkey, independent from the Kurdistan Region, which is expected to be completed “within the next few days,” according to a statement issued by the Iraqi oil ministry early Tuesday.