Is there any truth the the stories circulating that Iran invades Iraq today December 18?”
Iranian soldiers crossed the Iraqi border into disputed territory today, and took control of an oil field whose ownership has been in doubt since the end of the war between the tywo countries in the 1980s. “At 3:30 this afternoon, 11 Iranian (soldiers) infiltrated the Iran-Iraq border and took control of the oil well. They raised the Iranian flag, and they are still there until this moment,” said Iraq’s deputy interior minister Ahmed Ali al Khafaji. The well is one of several in the Fakka oil field, which was part of a group offered to foreign investors in June, but no contract was awarded. Jawad al Bolani, the Iraqi Interior Minister, made a televised statement declaring that “Iraq will not give up its oil wealth”. The US played down the incursion into disputed territory, noting that such incidents were not unusual. “There has been no violence related to this incident and we trust this will be resolved through peaceful diplomacy between the governments of Iraq and Iran,” a US military
Telegraph.co.uk: Iran invades ‘Iraqi’ territory to seize oil field Iran staged an invasion of Iraqi territory on Friday as it established tank positions around an oilfield north of Basra raising fresh fears for Middle East stability. Oil prices rose after reports emerged that a unit of Iranian military personnel had raised the Islamic Republic flag on East Maysan oilfield 4. The Iranian troops were digging in last night almost 24 hours after the incursion was launched. “They positioned tanks around it and dug trenches,” General Zafer Nazmi, the head of the Border Police in Basra said. “They are still there, they raised the flag.” Baghdad officials said a meeting of the National Security Council had been convened before the Iranian ambassador was summoned to hear an official protest. The shared border of Iran and Iraq is contested territory that has remained an uneasy fault line since the end of a debilitating war that stretched over eight years in the 1980s. Relations improved after Sa
