Iraq’s Oil Ministry has denied that its deputy minister was involved in opaque sales of Iraqi oil mixed with Iranian crude for Iran’s benefit, as the U.S. alleged on Thursday when it sanctioned the senior official.
The United States on Thursday sanctioned Iraq’s Deputy Minister of Oil, Ali Maarij al-Bahadly, and several Iran-aligned militia leaders for facilitating the diversion of Iraqi crude to benefit Iran and affiliated militias. The move also targeted senior figures tied to the Kata’ib Sayyid Al-Shuhada and Asa’ib Ahl Al-Haq militias, both of which have been designated as global terrorist and foreign terrorist organizations.
As a result if the U.S. sanctions, any U.S. assets of the sanctioned individuals and entities are frozen, and Americans are barred from doing business with them.
Al-Bahadly was sanctioned because he “has abused his government position to divert Iraqi oil in support of the Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies,” the U.S. State Department said on Thursday.
“As part of a scheme to evade sanctions, Iranian oil was fraudulently mixed with Iraqi oil and sold for Iran’s benefit,” the U.S. Administration added.
The move is part of the Trump Administration’s crackdown on “individuals and entities that are exploiting Iraq’s oil wealth to fund the Iranian regime’s terrorism in the region.”
“These networks undermine Iraq’s sovereignty, rob the Iraqi people of national resources, and fuel violence against both Iraqis and Americans,” according to the U.S. State Department.
The allegation that Iraqi documentation has been used to move Iranian crude is not new. Iraqi officials said earlier this year that tankers stopped in the Gulf were carrying forged Iraqi paperwork. Tehran denied it.
Iraq’s Oil Ministry, for its part, denied the accusations against al-Bahadli.
The Iraqi ministry is prepared to investigate the matter, but “crude oil export operations, marketing, loading onto tankers, and related procedures” were not part of al-Bahadli’s job, state news agency INA reports, as cited by AFP.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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