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.”For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.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 al-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,

Go to News Site