[Al Arabiya Latest] Iranian soldiers have crossed into Iraqi territory and taken up position at a southern oilfield whose ownership is disputed by Iran, an Iraqi official said on Friday. Deputy Interior Minister Ahmed Ali al-Khafaji, reversing statements made earlier in the day, said the incursion on Friday was the latest in a series this week.
"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 until this moment," he told Reuters.
He said the Iraqi government had taken no military action but stressed it would seek a measured, diplomatic response to the situation. "We are awaiting orders from our leader."
"There has been no violence related to this incident and we trust this will be resolved through peaceful diplomacy between the governments of Iraq and Iran," a U.S. military spokesman had told AFP earlier this morning at Contingency Operating Base Adder, just outside the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. |