Electronic payment system halts at Iraqi state fuel stations

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Qi Card electronic payment system stopped functioning at state-owned fuel stations across Iraq on Thursday due to a technical fault, government sources said. The outage began in the morning hours and affected all government-run stations, preventing prepaid transactions from being completed. The disruption was caused by a malfunction in the electronic infrastructure connecting the stations to Qi Card, the company that operates the payment network. Authorized technical teams are working in coordination with the company to resolve the issue and restore normal service, according to the sources. Customers experienced delays in fuel purchases during the outage. Qi Card and Iraqi authorities had not issued a statement on the cause of the fault or on when full service would resume. The sources said the issue was temporary and affected all state stations linked to the system.