Baghdad’s oil ministry says it has “understandings” with the United States and Iran to reduce the impact of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz on Iraqi oil exports, AFP reports.

The ministry did not elaborate or say when these reported understandings were reached.

Iraqi oil ministry spokesperson Saheb Bazoun told the Iraqi News Agency, “There are understandings with the American and Iranian sides to circumvent the blockade imposed on the Strait of Hormuz, and with all parties to guarantee exports”.

A founding member of the OPEC oil cartel, Iraq normally exports the majority of its crude through the strait, but like other exporters in the oil-rich region, it has been left scrambling for alternative routes.

Bazoun told INA that Iraq was continuing to use secondary export routes, including a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan and via Syria’s Baniyas port.