The United States has declined to renew a waiver that had allowed Iraq to buy electricity from Iran without running afoul of sanctions, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said Sunday

China should recognise that the Philippines is an independent and sovereign state whose actions and decisions are driven entirely by national interest and not at the direction of other countries, Manila's foreign ministry said on Monday.

Move to stop permitting Iraqi purchases of Iranian energy will tighten sanctions but stress a U.S. partner in the region.

Iraq has no immediate alternatives to compensate for the energy imported from Iran, which will cause a significant problem in providing enough electricity to meet domestic consumption, especially in the summer,