Exclusive: Syria, Iraq and US plan to unveil Mediterranean pipeline deal to bypass Strait of Hormuz
Iraq, Syria and the US plan to revive a historic 500-mile pipeline to Syria's Mediterranean coast as part of efforts to reduce Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz, senior Iraqi and regional officials have told Middle East Eye.
An agreement to revive the pipeline, originally running from the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk to Syria’s coastal town of Baniyas, is expected to be unveiled next week when Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets US President Donald Trump at the White House, the sources told MEE.
Tom Barrack, Trump’s ambassador to Turkey and envoy to Syria and Iraq, has been working on the details of the agreement before Zaidi’s visit, which is also expected to include a stop in Texas, the US's energy hub state.
The senior Iraqi official told MEE that Barrack has developed a good working relationship with Zaidi and wants to use the pipeline as a model for business projects in the Levant that he has trumpeted as benefiting the US and local governments.
The pipeline was completed in 1952 by Iraq’s Petroleum Company with around 300,000 barrels per day (BPD) of capacity. Baghdad shut the pipeline in the 1980s after Syria sided with Iran during the Iran-Iraq war. The line was heavily damaged after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and is effectively defunct.
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The line needs extensive repairs, including new storage tanks, pumps and electrical systems. One senior regional official told MEE that the pipeline would likely need to be replaced wholesale, with a two- to three-year timeline. He added that a consortium of US firms had already been enlisted for such reconstruction, indicating the US's commitment to the issue.
Syria and Iraq flirted with reviving the pipeline in late 2024, after Islamist militias loyal to President Ahmed al-Sharaa ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad. The preliminary talks failed to gain traction.
The Baniyas pipeline has taken on new urgency as a result of Iran asserting its control of the Strait of Hormuz in response to the US-Israeli war. Iraq began exporting crude using tanker trucks through Syria during the war, but the volumes were small.
“Iraq has started to see Syria in a different light,” Sarhang Hamasaeed, an independent Iraqi analyst, told MEE. “Prior to the war, it was scepticism. The reality of the war made it clear that Iraq needs Syria.”
Syria's foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, is expected to visit the US for the signing ceremony of the pipeline deal, the regional sources told MEE.
Baghdad’s government is dominated by Shia political parties and militias close to Iran. They have been wary of working with Sharaa, a Sunni Muslim, who founded al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, over a decade ago.
But Sharaa entered the US orbit after toppling Assad. He enjoys the close backing of Turkey and Gulf states, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration has lifted multiple layers of sanctions on Syria, including Sharaa’s former rebel group, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
Trump lavished rare praise on Sharaa at a Nato summit in Ankara last week, calling him "fantastic" and "highly respected”. The US announced last week that it would remove Syria from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (SST) - a designation that it has had since 1979.
That move could help US firms work on the pipeline project. Earlier this month, Iraq’s government approved a preliminary deal for US companies, Capital TI and Chevron, along with a Qatari firm, to explore pipeline projects running to Baniyas from Kirkuk and Haditha, an oil hub in Iraq’s Anbar province.
Iraq is one of the most vulnerable countries to Iran’s chokehold on Hormuz. It relies on the strait to export 95 percent of its oil. Despite the closeness of some Iraqi militias to Iran, Iraq has been unable to export its oil.
Energy analytics firm Vortexa said last month that Iraq’s seaborn oil exports in May were just 8 percent of last year's average. Sales of oil comprise 90 percent of the state’s budget.
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