Ken Okeke
A fuel oil smuggling network in Iraq has generated some $1 billion in profits for Iran, according to Reuters, which cited unnamed sources.
According to the sources, $1 billion is the size of the annual profits from the operation, which began after Mohammed Shia al-Sudani became Prime Minister of Iraq.
The smuggling mechanism essentially involves diverting fuel oil from Iraqi asphalt plants and sending it to Asia. The network consists of companies and individuals in both Iran and Iraq, as well as several Gulf states, the Reuters report also said, noting some of the information came from three intelligence reports from Western sources without specifying the sources.
The network diverts an average of between 500,000 and 750,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil from Iraqi asphalt plants every month, the Reuters sources said. The amount is equivalent to between 3.4 million and 5 million barrels of oil.
Allegations that Iraq is helping Iran sell its oil abroad are not new. Indeed, earlier this year, a group of U.S. congressmen called on President Biden to ban Iraq’s oil minister from attending events in the United States because of his alleged involvement in Iranian sanction evasion.
The group also demanded an investigation into Minister Hayyan Abdul-Ghani and other Iraqi officials on their alleged participation in sanction evasion.
“There are multiple public reports alleging that Abdul-Ghani and other officials in the Iraqi government are involved in industrial-scale sanctions evasion on behalf of the regime in Iran,” the congressmen wrote.
“Given these reports, we respectfully request that your administration prevent Minister Abdul-Ghani from attending events in the United States until these allegations are investigated and the findings are presented to Congress.”
Those allegations concerned Iraqi oil that got shipped to Iran, from where it was loaded on ships or trucks and moved on to its final destinations which allegedly included Afghanistan and Pakistan