update re: potential partership with israel, page-9

also...if the US can apply this kind of pressure to reverse a deal with Russia in Iraq, I think they'll have a even harder time securing an energy contract in Israel.

See: Iraq cancels $4.2bn Russian arms deal

"As soon as the deal was announced a month ago I said that the US would not allow Iraq to buy such huge quantities of weapons from Russia. I believe Washington regarded this as an absolutely unacceptable scenario," he said.

"As far as talk about corruption is concerned, I think it's a smokescreen," he said, adding: "I can't see any scope for corruption in the Iraq deal. I believe this is just a pretext and the true reason is Washington applying pressure on Baghdad.

The real threat to WPLs deal with Israel could come from somebody already in Asia. e.g. South Korea's Korea Gas Corporation or the Total Group if the plan is to resell the gas in Europe but I don't know if Total bid.