Iraq Denies US Claims Deputy Oil Minister Helped Iran Evade Sanctions

Iraq's oil ministry has denied US accusations against its deputy minister, who the United States hit with sanctions over alleged support to Iran as Washington escalates pressure on Baghdad to break with Iranian-linked groups.

The US State Department on Thursday announced sanctions on Ali Maarij al-Bahadli, saying he "abused his government position to divert Iraqi oil in support of the Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies."

It accused him of fraudulently mixing Iraqi and Iranian oil as part of a scheme to help Iran avoid sanctions.

His ministry said late Thursday that "it denies the accusations" against Bahadli and stressed "the importance of transparency in addressing all... accusations on the basis of evidence and facts," according to the INA state news agency.

The ministry said it was prepared to investigate the matter, but added that "crude oil export operations, marketing, loading onto tankers, and related procedures" were not part of Bahadli's job.

After entities run by an Iraqi businessman were sanctioned over the same accusations last year, Iraq's state oil marketing company SOMO denied that any oil mixing operations were taking place in the country's ports or territorial waters to help Iran.

The United States has unilateral sanctions against Iranian oil, seeking to punish any country or company that buys it.

Iran, led by Shia clerics, has had close relations with many key players in Shia-majority Iraq since the 2003 US invasion toppled Saddam Hussein.

Washington, which holds major sway in Iraq has also been escalating pressure on the Iraqi state to disarm Tehran-backed armed groups, which the US designates as terrorist organisations.

Since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, those groups have hit US facilities in Iraq more than 600 times before a ceasefire was announced, according to a US official.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed)