Russia’s involvement in this push is unsurprising, as it already had extensive energy interests and ambitions in Iraq, even before the U.S.’s unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, or colloquially ‘the nuclear deal’) on 8 May 2018. Specifically, it had concluded multiple major memoranda of understanding (MoU) for seven big oil and gas fields in Iran – the most of any country. These were by GazpromNeft for the Changuleh and Cheshmeh-Khosh oilfields, Zarubezhneft for the Aba ...