The Oil Ministry has rejected accusations that Iran used forged Iraqi documents on its oil tankers to circumvent sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, emphasizing that Iranian oil sales are in accordance with international standards.
The ministry’s reaction came on Monday after Iraq's Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani claimed that several tankers with Iraqi bills of lading, which were recently seized by U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf, actually belonged to Iran.
“We received some verbal inquiries about oil tankers carrying Iraqi shipping manifests,” Abdel-Ghani said on state television late on Sunday, adding there had been no formal written communication.
Continuing his claims, the Iraqi minister said that “these tankers turned out to be Iranian and were using forged Iraqi documents”, which had been done in similar cases by some businessmen before.
Iran was quick to deny the accusations and said that they were leveled by American officials.
Assessments show that the Iraqi oil minister’s remarks have been reflected incompletely, and he made the allegations based on what American officials had said, Deputy Iranian Oil Minister for International and Commercial Affairs Alimohammad Mousavi said on Monday.
“It's obvious that these allegations by U.S. officials, which are in line with this country’s illegal policy to level unfounded accusations and exert pressure on the Iranian nation, have no basis or credibility,” he said.
Mousavi also said that Iran’s oil sales are being carried out based on all accepted criteria and regulations related to oil trade, emphasizing that such “negative and malicious maneuvering” will not have any impact on the Oil Ministry’s determination to fulfill its legal duties and responsibilities.
Recently, a U.S. State Department spokesperson informed that the Trump administration had ended Iraq’s sanctions waivers for buying electricity from Iran.
He said that Washington will not allow Tehran any degree of economic and financial freedom and asked the Iraqi government “to end its dependence on Iranian energy resources.”
