Iran-Iraq Oil Well Dispute Provokes Iraqi Fears
A wall along the Iran-Iraq border in Wasit Province. (image: cheeseitz87 via flickr.com)
The border dispute between Iraq and Iran over an inactive oil well that began in mid December has been taken up as a cause by some Iraqi nationalists. The Washington Post reports that the fighting for Fakka oil well No. 4 in Iraq’s Maysan province has “inflamed passions in Iraq.”
Differing reports surfaced about the showdown over this oil well, with conflicting reports about whether or not the dispute had actually been settled. The New York Times reported that, despite claims the skirmish was over, officials from Iraq were claiming there were still Iranian soldiers in the region. Then Reuters ran the news that the incident had ended, with Iranian officials dubbing the affair a “misunderstanding.”
Whether or not the issue is resolved—the Post says forces from both countries are still dug in on opposing sides of the well, which is outside of Baghdad—the dispute has put a spotlight on the tense relations between the two countries, issues which some worry could spark a larger conflict. As the Post’s Michael Hastings noted in his piece, the dispute over the inactive well has touched on two very sensitive topics for Iraqis in particular: “sovereignty and oil.” Hastings went on to say that the showdown in Iraq has “turned into a litmus test” for politicians and parties looking ahead to the national elections in March.
Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iran’s influence in the country has grown and many Iraqis are concerned about what will happen when American troops leave the region. As Hastings elaborated: “Many of the Iraqi leaders installed early on by the Americans spent years in exile in Iran, and Iranian money, weapons and intelligence agents have flooded across a border that neither the Iraqis nor the Americans have been able to control.”
While different factions in the two countries are claiming different things—some say the showdown is a sign of an impending eruption of violence and others have dismissed it—there is no question that the Iran-Iraq border has been unstable for some time. The Post notes that the U.S. has spent over $1 billion on security there since 2003 and that “part of the U.S. withdrawal strategy involves arming Iraq with new weapons, border surveillance systems and aircraft to defend against Iran and other regional threats.”
While the Iranians are saying the issue is over, Iraqis still have their concerns—and fears. And, of course, the issue is ultimately about more than who controls one inactive oil well. As one Iraqi leader told the Post: “This is not an issue of resolving a dispute. We are quite sure this is our land. We have proof this is our land.”
