Iraq said on 1 July that natural-gas deliveries from Iran had fallen by more than 50 % within hours, leaving the Iraqi electricity grid short of roughly 15 % of its generating capacity and underscoring Baghdad’s dependence on imported fuel despite the country’s substantial oil reserves. Industry reports put Iranian flows to Iraq at about 25 million units following the cut, though the baseline volume was not disclosed. The sudden drop comes at the height of summer demand, raising the risk of further blackouts if alternative fuels cannot be secured promptly. The export disruption follows comments one day earlier by Iran’s energy minister, Abbas Aliabadi, who for the first time blamed last winter’s fuel shortage at Iranian power plants on Israeli attacks. Aliabadi said the shortfall, which he put at about 20,000 megawatts last year, has since been reduced to below 10,000 megawatts, but he warned that new measures are needed to avert fresh electricity crises.