ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The United States has imposed two major economic sanctions on Iraq, halting dollar cash shipments linked to oil revenues and suspending dollar transfers to and from the country, informed officials said on Tuesday.

Two senior officials from the Kurdistan Region and the Iraqi government, in exclusive remarks to The New Region, said that Washington has recently imposed two new sanctions on Baghdad.

The first sanction involves halting formal cash shipments of dollars and oil revenues to the country, a decision that went into effect “immediately.”

Meanwhile, the second sanction, which concerns the suspension of dollar transfers to and from the country, has not yet been implemented.

However, the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) denied the reports, asserting that dollar shipments from the US Federal Reserve to Iraq are ongoing.

The New Region reached out to the US Department of State, which advised contacting the Treasury Department and attached a previous statement attributed to Tommy Pigott, the State Department’s Principal Deputy Spokesperson.

The statement highlighted Baghdad’s “failure” to prevent attacks on US interests inside Iraqi territory, while claiming that “some elements associated with the Iraqi government” provide political and financial support to militias carrying out the attacks.

“The United States will not tolerate attacks on US interests and expects the Iraqi government to immediately take all measures to dismantle the Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq,” the statement added.

The New Region also contacted the Treasury Department, but they were not immediately available.

On Friday, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions targeting seven pro-Iran Iraqi militia commanders “responsible for planning, directing, and executing attacks” against US personnel and interests in the country.

Earlier this month, the US summoned Iraq’s ambassador to Washington to condemn the attacks by the pro-Iran militias, warning that the ongoing violence is negatively affecting relations between Washington and Baghdad.

In October, CBI issued a new set of measures to tackle the prevalence of foreign currency smuggling and money laundering, which were set to take effect starting in November and included forcing businesspeople to submit detailed receipts of purchases made abroad before the transfer of money outside of Iraq.

The measures come after the US Department of the Treasury announced the imposition of sanctions on three Iraqi bank executives in October, accusing them of laundering money for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq.