The United States has pushed Iraq for months to speed up passage of the landmark law and other pieces of legislation seen as vital to curbing sectarian violence and healing deep divisions between majority Shi’ites and minority Sunni Arabs.

Washington has also been urging Shi’ite Iran to do more to stem violence in Iraq. This week the U.S. military said the senior leadership in Tehran was aware Iranian operatives were involved in training and supplying Shi’ite militias with arms.

Iran has dismissed the accusations, but in a sign of diplomatic progress, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran would be available to hold a second round of discussions with the United States over Iraq.

That would follow talks in Baghdad on May 28 between the two countries’ ambassadors to Iraq in what was the most high-profile meeting of the two enemies in almost three decades.

“If the Americans want to continue negotiations we are available. We told them our position and reminded them of their responsibility as the occupier,” Araghchi said during a visit to South Africa.

Presentation of the draft oil law to parliament after the cabinet approved it on Tuesday was a big step towards meeting a key political target set by the United States.

But Mohammed Abu Bakr, head of parliament’s media office, said the law had first to go to the energy and oil committee.

“We need seven days to get the draft on the agenda of parliament to discuss it,” he said.

The oil law is intended to ensure a fair distribution of the world’s third largest oil reserves, which are located mainly in the Shi’ite south and the Kurdish north of Iraq.

Sunni Arabs, the backbone of the insurgency, live mainly in central provinces that have little proven oil wealth and have long feared they would miss out on any windfall.

Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki should have enough support in the 275-member parliament to get the law passed. But in a sign of trouble, the movement of anti American Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said it had rejected the draft.

Sadr’s bloc, which has 30 parliamentary seats, said the law must state that no contracts may be signed with firms from countries with troops in Iraq, an official said.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said it had not seen nor approved the draft while Sunni Arab politicians voiced concern about foreign domination of the industry.

Iraq’s cabinet originally approved the draft in February but faced stiff opposition from Kurdistan, which felt it was getting a raw deal.

The draft decides who controls Iraq’s reserves and aims to provide a legal framework for foreign investment.

Parliament is running out of time to debate and approve the oil laws and other measures aimed at ensuring Sunni Arabs are cemented in the political process. It has extended its current session to the end of July, before legislators take a month off.

That leaves little time before the U.S. military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker have to present a much anticipated report to Washington in the middle of September on Iraq’s security and political progress.

Iraq said this week it was pressing the United States and Iran to hold a second round of talks in Baghdad but that no date had been set. Tehran had previously said it was reviewing the possibility of another round.

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