Iraq denies its deputy oil minister helped Iran evade US sanctions

Iraq’s oil ministry denies 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 militias.

The US State Department announced sanctions yesterday 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 says that “it denies the accusations” against Bahadli and stresses “the importance of transparency in addressing all… accusations on the basis of evidence and facts,” according to the INA state news agency.

The ministry says it is prepared to investigate the matter, but adds that “crude oil export operations, marketing, loading onto tankers, and related procedures” are 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.