Baghdad risks losing $2.7B Korean air-defense deal

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq could lose a $2.7 billion South Korean air-defense contract after Seoul warned it may sell the system to another country unless Baghdad pays the remaining installments, MP Faleh Al-Khazali told Shafaq News on Monday.

Al-Khazali, head of the parliamentary Montasiroun bloc, which is part of the ruling Shiite Coordination Framework, said Baghdad paid an initial $500 million installment, but funding shortages and the lack of financial allocations delayed the remaining payments, which were due in 2025.

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In November 2025, a government source told Shafaq News that Iraq had contracted with South Korea to buy eight air-defense batteries, also warning at the time that the deal could fail if payment was not completed. LIG Nex1 secured the contract with Iraq’s Defense Ministry to export the Cheongung-II medium-range surface-to-air missile defense system, Yonhap News Agency previously reported, describing it as designed to intercept incoming missiles and aircraft.

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