Hanson
December 18th, 2009, 01:11 PM
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Iranian security forces seized an oil well in southern Iraq on Thursday night, two senior Iraqi government officials said Friday.
The oil well is in Maysan province, east of Amara, near the Iranian border, the officials said.
Iran is denying the incident took place and said that Iraqi authorities have not yet contacted the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad. And Iraqi authorities didn't know whether Iranian forces still had control of the property on Friday.
The officials said Iraq's Foreign and Oil ministries were mulling what steps to take, and state TV said Iraq's National Security Council was to meet Friday to discuss the incident. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was to preside over the meeting.
Iraq and Iran share a long border, and high-ranking committees from both countries handle all border matters, an Iranian Embassy official said. The two countries fought a bloody eight-year war that ended in 1988 in a cease-fire with no clear victor and parts of the border under dispute.
But political, economic, cultural and religious ties between Iran, a predominantly Shiite Muslim nation, and Iraq, a majority Shiite Muslim nation, greatly improved after the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003. At the same time, there has been widespread concern among Iraqi and U.S. officials that Iran has been providing Iraqi insurgents with material for roadside bombs during the Iraq war.
The report of the incident comes several days after the Oil Ministry's two-day auction of oil fields. Aimed at increasing Iraqi oil production, deals were struck for seven of the 15 fields offered. There also had been oil bidding in June.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/12/18/iran.iraq.oil.well/index.html
The oil well is in Maysan province, east of Amara, near the Iranian border, the officials said.
Iran is denying the incident took place and said that Iraqi authorities have not yet contacted the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad. And Iraqi authorities didn't know whether Iranian forces still had control of the property on Friday.
The officials said Iraq's Foreign and Oil ministries were mulling what steps to take, and state TV said Iraq's National Security Council was to meet Friday to discuss the incident. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was to preside over the meeting.
Iraq and Iran share a long border, and high-ranking committees from both countries handle all border matters, an Iranian Embassy official said. The two countries fought a bloody eight-year war that ended in 1988 in a cease-fire with no clear victor and parts of the border under dispute.
But political, economic, cultural and religious ties between Iran, a predominantly Shiite Muslim nation, and Iraq, a majority Shiite Muslim nation, greatly improved after the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003. At the same time, there has been widespread concern among Iraqi and U.S. officials that Iran has been providing Iraqi insurgents with material for roadside bombs during the Iraq war.
The report of the incident comes several days after the Oil Ministry's two-day auction of oil fields. Aimed at increasing Iraqi oil production, deals were struck for seven of the 15 fields offered. There also had been oil bidding in June.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/12/18/iran.iraq.oil.well/index.html