❗️US demands Iraq shut all but two border crossings with Iran The US Treasury formally requested on Sunday that the Iraqi government shut down all but two of its border crossings with Iran as Washington ramps up its economic siege against Tehran. Speaking in an interview with Al Jazeera, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein confirmed that Washington is demanding Baghdad restrict all overland commercial and passenger transit to just two designated checkpoints—one in the Iraqi Kurdistan region and another elsewhere along the shared 1,600-kilometer frontier. "Closing the border crossings could be a punishment for Iran, but it would also hurt Iraq," Hussein warned, emphasizing that bilateral trade and movement would grind to a halt. "Trade would stop, movement would stop, and that would affect us economically. The Americans are still asking for the crossings to be closed, and we are in talks with them." The diplomatic pressure coincides with CENTCOM's announcement of Task Force Iron Gate, a Tampa-based interagency unit tasked with enforcing an overland blockade across Iran's land borders and Caspian Sea shipping lanes. Hussein also detailed the severe economic fallout of the regional crisis, revealing that Baghdad has lost approximately $60 billion after energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz were disrupted during the first four months of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Prior to the maritime blockades, Iraq exported between 3.3 and 3.4 million barrels of crude daily through the Persian Gulf corridor. Addressing ongoing security initiatives, the foreign minister reiterated Baghdad's firm opposition to foreign forces utilizing Iraqi territory to stage attacks against neighboring states. Hussein noted that Iraqi prime ministerial negotiators have reached preliminary understandings with four armed factions to consolidate weapons under state authority, while dialogue continues with two remaining groups.