Iraq and Iran Trade Accusations Over Oil Field
By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: December 18, 2009
BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government said Friday that Iranian troops had crossed the border and occupied a portion of an oil field situated on disputed land between the two countries, but Iranian officials immediately and vehemently disputed the account.
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Amir al-Rashadi, a spokesman at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, said, “We don’t have any information about this, but we suspect it is all lies.”
Although Tehran and Baghdad have enjoyed increasingly warm relations in recent years, the dispute underscores just how sore a point the border oil fields remain. Iraqi officials said that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Malikicalled a meeting of national security officials on Friday to determine a response.
In June, Iraq tried but failed to auction off development rights to the field, Fakka, in Maysan Province in southeastern Iraq. In recent months, Iraq has accused Iran of pumping oil from it. .
Meanwhile, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that with a firm date set for Iraqi elections in March, the American military could reaffirm its timetable to reduce the number of troops in Iraq to 50,000 by next summer.
“It’s certainly our intent post-election to start this drawdown, and do it as rapidly as we are planning to do it between March and August,” Admiral Mullen told reporters traveling with him in Iraq.
Admiral Mullen blamed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia for a string of recent attacks, including a deadly series of car bombings last week that devastated government institutions across Baghdad and killed at least 121 people last week.
“All indications that I can see is that it’s Al Qaeda,” Admiral Mullen said. “There’s been no outbreak of sectarian violence to get into a cycle that could be very, very negative.”
Admiral Mullen said American intelligence reports has not detected a large flow into Iraq of foreign fighters, who have been held responsible for suicide bombings in the past. “It is probably more along the lines of very focused, very well planned” attacks, he said. “That seems to be where Al Qaeda is going right now.”
In a whirlwind day, Admiral Mullen met with American troops based in the southern city of Basra, as well as a ranking Iraqi army general and leading imam there. He also flew to Talil Air Base in southern Iraq, where he met with senior Iraqi civilian and military leaders, as well as an Italian-led provincial reconstruction team made up of civilian aid specialists and American security forces.
On Saturday, Admiral Mullen is to meet with more American troops in Iraq, as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.
Reporting was contributed by Omar al-Jawoshy and Duraid Adnan in Baghdad and an employee of The New York Times in Maysan Province.
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