Iran War Halts Iraq Power Network with its Gulf Neighbors

Repeated Iranian rocket and drone attacks on Kuwait have halted work on a landmark project to link Iraq’s power network with its Gulf neighbors for the supply of 500 megawatts (MW) of electricity.

More than three years after it was launched, Iraq has completed nearly 96 percent of the project to connect its electricity grid to that of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) through nearby Kuwait.

“The announcement of the completion of the electricity interconnection project with Kuwait has been postponed due to the security situation and the current events in the region,” Iraq’s electricity ministry spokesman Ahmed Turki said.

Turki said Baghdad had hoped that the project would be officially inaugurated in early September.

“The project was scheduled to be completed and commissioned at the start of next month after 96 percent of the inter-connection project was finished…but the current situation has prevented its completion,” the official said.

In February, the electricity ministry said it intends to sign an agreement for its Gulf Arab neighbors to supply it with electricity after grid interconnection is complete.

A project to build new stations and power cables is nearly 94 percent finished and will be operational shortly, the ministry had noted.

In addition to GCC power supplies, Iraq will get 500 MW of electricity from neighboring Jordan through a similar inter-connection grid

Iraq suffered from a 22-gigawatt (GW) power gap at the end of 2025 as a result of a decline in gas and electricity supplies over the past two years.

Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi said this week that Iraq is planning to sharply boost electricity imports from the Gulf countries and other neighbors as part of an ambitious programme to double power generation in 2027.