Iraq Oil Report

Turkey may implement economic sanctions against the Kurdistan Regional Government, including cutting needed power supplies, Iran’s PressTV reports. It sounds like a squeeze on the KRG for not quashing the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

The PKK is threatening to sabotage the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline – in the Kurdistan territory – but has yet to make good on it.

The latest on Turkey’s “incursion” is detailed by Deborah Haynes, David Byers and Nico Hines for The London Times.

But Kurds not officially affiliated with the PKK may not take kindly to Turkey’s bombs, Douglas Birch reports for the Associated Press.

I explain we may see a rise of Kurdish solidarity in my story Monday for UPI.

The KRG has gone on its own offensive, via media. A statement of “policy” published on its website, and in an interview with Al Jazeera (ironically, considered a terrorist outfit itself by the government in Baghdad).

The real winner in this could be Iran, Ken Fireman reports for Bloomberg.

More on Iraq’s oil

The Iraq Press Roundup’s top story is a Kurdish newspaper’s “understanding” of what the U.S. would wage war over – to “guarantee the flow of oil” — Hiba Dawood reports for UPI.

Iraqi oil may be flowing to Israel, part of a strategic partnership with Turkey, Today’s Zaman reports.

Where is Iran in Iraq?

Iraq Slogger looks at the ongoing and increased fighting in southern Iraq, including the oil capital of Basra, and asks who is Iran supporting?

In the midst of the confrontations, political accusations are being exchanged, and both parties are accusing each other of “implementing Iranian plans.” The Sadr movement accuses the local security forces in southern cities of being an unofficial armed wing of the Badr militia, the military organization of al-Hakeem’s Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council; and charge that the police is attempting to liquidate Sadrist leaders in order to further the political agenda of the SIIC. …

However, the SIIC and the local police are charging that the Sadr Current is, in fact, the Iranian tool. Al-Hayat quoted the Karbala police chief, Ra’id Jawdat (pro-SIIC) who pointed that the Mahdi Army has been using Iranian-made weapons in its operations. Jawdat claimed that the 170mm Katyusha missiles fired by the Sadrists during the recent confrontations were made in Iran. The question remains: who does Iran support is the ongoing Shi’a-Shi’a conflict?

In Basra, the capital of Iraq’s oil sector, violence has sharply (but not suddenly) spiked.

Reuters reports on the gunman-on-security forces violence.

Gulf News also has the clash.

Eleven kilos of hash were found in a mass drug bust in southern Iraq, Saadoun al-Jaberi reports for Azzaman.
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