"Previously, we only had imports from Iran, but there are government directives and a political will to rely on multiple sources of imports," said Saad Jassem, an official at Iraq's electricity ministry.

"We have not yet stopped Iranian gas imports," the director of the fuel department at the ministry told AFP in an interview on Wednesday.

His remarks come amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran, after Iran rejected a US offer of talks on its nuclear programme.

The administration of US President Donald Trump announced at the weekend its decision to end a sanctions waiver that had allowed Iraq to buy electricity from Iran.

"The administration has made clear to the Iraqi government that it needs to make swift progress in eliminating all Iranian natural gas purchases," a US diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Iran's gas and electricity supply account for a third of Iraq's energy needs.

Despite having vast oil wealth, Iraq has been ravaged by decades of conflict, suffers from crumbling infrastructure and is plagued by daily power cuts.

"We must consider the worst-case scenario -- if there is an interruption, we have prepared alternatives," Jassem said.

"In the region, Qatar is the largest natural gas producer -- we have made several visits, and they are ready to help Iraq with preferential rates," the official said, adding that "Oman is also an option".

Negotiations were also underway to buy gas from Turkmenistan to be delivered via pipelines across Iran, he added.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has called for a new nuclear deal with Tehran while reinstating his "maximum pressure" policy of sanctions.