Iranian soldiers cross into Iraqi territory
'Violation of Iraqi sovereignty'
Iraq yesterday demanded that Iran immediately withdraw its soldiers from a disputed oilfield on the two countries' border, but Tehran denied any incursion.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said 11 Iranian soldiers had taken control of the Fakka oilfield in a remote desert area of southeastern Iraq, in a "violation of Iraqi sovereignty".
"Iraq demands the immediate withdrawal from well No. 4 and the Fakka oilfield, which belongs to Iraq. Iraq is looking for a peaceful and diplomatic settlement to this issue," he said.
Mr Dabbagh did not give a deadline for withdrawal and did not say what Iraq would do if Iran failed to comply. Officials have summoned Tehran's envoy in Iraq to discuss the matter, he said.
Iraqi officials said the Iranian soldiers crossed into Iraqi territory yesterday and raised the Iranian flag at Fakka, whose ownership is disputed by Iran.
Iraqi Deputy Interior Minister Ahmed Ali al-Khafaji said the incursion was the latest of several this week at the field, some 300 kilometres southeast of Baghdad in Maysan province.
"At 3.30 this afternoon, 11 Iranian (soldiers) infiltrated the Iran-Iraq border and took control of the oil well. They raised the Iranian flag, and they are still there," he said.
Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency later quoted the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) as rejecting the report.
"The company denies Iranian soldiers taking control of any oil well inside Iraqi territory," Mehr quoted the NIOC as saying.
Mr Khafaji said the well was in Iraqi territory.
"This well is located on Iraqi land, 300 metres inside Iraq. It is disputed between Iran and Iraq. There was an agreement between the two countries' oil ministers to fix this problem diplomatically," he said.
A senior engineer from Maysan Oil Company, which operates the field, said Iranian troops had taken temporary control of one of the field's seven wells, an inoperative well in a disputed border area, four or five times this year.
"Iranian forces come to this well periodically, and then at daybreak they withdraw. They are provoking us ... I don't know why this is a big deal this time," he said, on condition of anonymity.
The benchmark US light crude oil future moved to a high of $74.69 per barrel at 14.14 GMT, up from $73.31 at 11.08 GMT before the first reports, and was $74.07 at 18.46 GMT.
The incident came a few days after the Iraqi Oil Ministry awarded leading global energy firms contracts to operate seven oil fields in its second tender since the 2003 US invasion.