Despite pledges, Iraqi Kurd oil still flows to Iran
By Ahmed Rasheed and Shamal Aqrawi
HAJ UMRAN, Iraq (Reuters) - Despite a pledge by Iraqi Kurdistan to crack down on the flow of fuel being smuggled to Iran, the only real impediment truck drivers say they face are long lines that force them to wait for days to cross.
Perhaps around 100 tanker trucks corralled into groups of 10 or a dozen by Kurdish police idled on the road to the border point of Haj Umran on Tuesday, waiting for their chance to pass over to unload fuel at Iranian ports or fuel depots.
"I've been waiting for two days to be able to pass over to Iran and take my 24 tonnes of fuel safely to Bandar Abbas port," said Barzan Hussain, a driver who works for a Kurdish shipping company based in Arbil.
The cross-border trade in fuel is a challenge to U.S. efforts to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear research programme, and an embarrassment for Washington's Kurdish allies, eager to remain in the good books of the United States as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.
It is also another thorn in the side of often tense relations between Iraq's Arab majority and ethnic Kurds who have enjoyed virtual autonomy in their northern enclave since the end of the first Gulf War.
The Shi'ite-led federal government in Baghdad says any trade in crude oil would be illegal, because Iraqi law only allows the State Oil Marketing Organisation to export it.
It is also critical of any trade in refined products, because seven years after the U.S.-led invasion, Iraq still does not produce as much refined fuels as it needs and has to import.
On Monday, the cabinet of the Kurdish Regional Government approved stricter measures including stepped up border surveillance to stop any illegal trade in crude across its borders. There was little sign the next day at Haj Umran that border guards had been told to be more vigilant. Continued...
