http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126114921937697207.html
Iraqi officials said Friday that Iranian troops are occupying part of a disputed oil field along the two countries' border, stirring concerns about an escalation in tensions between Baghdad and Tehran.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh confirmed Iranian troops had seized Well No. 4 in the al-Fakkah oil field.
Mr. Dabbagh said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki chaired a meeting of the national Security Council Friday to discuss the incident.
"The council views the Iranian move as a violation of Iraq's sovereignty and urges Iran to withdraw its troops from the well and bring down the Iranian flag they raised above the well," Mr. Dabbagh said.
The al-Fakkah field, located about 200 miles from Baghdad in southeastern Iraq, straddles the frontier. It has estimated reserves of 1.55 million barrels and is part of a cluster of fields Iraq unsuccessfully put up for auction to major oil companies in June. Mr. Dabbagh said that the Iraqi government summoned the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad and submitted a letter of protest.
Iraqi and Iranian officials have frequently tussled over territory along their shared frontier, and brief incursions aren't uncommon. Oil officials recently traded accusations about oil theft from the shared field at the center of the allegations.
But at least one Iraqi official said Friday that gunfire was exchanged in the current dispute. This official said Iranians were still holding one well in the field—a significant escalation.
According to a Pentagon official in Washington, disputes over "horizontal drilling"—where Iraqis have accused Iran of hunting for oil by drilling underground into Iraqi territory—have been common in the area, and Iran has moved into the field, where borders are disputed, before. The official added that while this incursion appeared more "aggressive," the U.S. wasn't concerned it could step up tensions.
"This oil field is in a disputed territory between Iran and Iraq," the official said. "It's not unusual for these types of incursions to occur."
No U.S. troops are believed to be stationed near al-Fakkah. Spokespeople for the U.S. military in Iraq didn't respond to a request for comment late Friday. A spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Baghdad referred questions to the Iraqi government.
Attempts to reach the Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York weren't successful. Iran's semiofficial Mehr news agency, citing the National Iranian Oil Co., denied allegations of an incursion, according to Reuters.
Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Haj Aziz told local reporters late Friday that Iranian troops seized the area around an oil well in the al-Fakkah field.
Mr. Aziz said he didn't know if the Iranians were still in control of the territory. Earlier Friday, Iraqi officials denied reports that an incursion had taken place.
The alleged incursion comes as Iraqi politicians prepare for parliamentary elections slated for March. The timing could enflame political rhetoric amid a recent backlash by many Iraqis against growing Iranian influence in Iraq.
It also comes as the U.S., which still has about 115,000 troops in Iraq, threatens fresh economic sanctions against Iran unless Tehran shows good faith in international negotiations over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Oil prices rose sharply on the reports of the incursion, but eased later in the day, closing up 71 cents at $73.36 a barrel.
Wa'al Abdullatif, an Iraqi lawmaker and a member of parliament's legal committee, said Iranians have been conducting limited incursions at al-Fakkah for more than a year. He said in the past, Iraqi workers have chased Iranian border guards out of the field.
Mr. Abdullatif said the incursion comes at a delicate time for Iraq, which has seen relations deteriorate with other big neighbors, including Saudi Arabia and Syria. Ahead of the March polls, Iraqi politicians have accused foreign powers of interfering in Iraqi affairs. Prime Minister Maliki's government has gone as far as accusing Damascus of complicity in recent, high-profile bombings in Baghdad by granting safe harbor to loyalists of Saddam Hussein's regime.
"The Iranians chose the wrong time" to conduct an oil-field incursion, Mr. Abdullatif said. An Iraqi government spokesman said a "limited" cabinet meeting was taking place late Friday to discuss the incident.
A local Iraqi oil official in the province where the field is located said a group of less than a dozen Iranian soldiers occupied the well. But this official said the incursion took place two weeks ago, further muddying the account of the incident. The Iranians opened fire briefly, raised the Iranian flag and continue to occupy the area, this official said. There were no casualties, he said.
"Two weeks ago around 10 to 11 Iranian troops occupied Well No. 4 in (al-Fakkah) oil field after Iraqi oil workers started work in the well near the border," the official said. Local authorities told the laborers to suspend work until the problem was resolved through diplomatic channels with Iran, the official said.
The incident came just a few weeks after officials from the oil ministries of both countries met in Baghdad to discuss oil and gas fields near the two countries' shared border. Iraq had accused Iran of siphoning crude oil from fields near its border with Iran, including at al-Fakkah. After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Iran seized six wells in the nearby Abu Gharb oil field, saying they were in disputed territory and should be sealed until the border dispute was settled, Iraqi oil officials have said.
Last year, Iraq's integrity commission, an independent, government-corruption watchdog, accused Iran of seizing more than 15 wells in the al-Teeb border in southern Iraq. Iran denied the accusations.
—Peter Spiegel in Washington and Munaf Mustafa in Baghdad contributed to this article.
