Oil smuggling from Kurdistan to Iran has boomed since last year, with officials in the Barzani family’s Kurdistan Democratic Party reaping the benefits, a Reuters investigation has found. More than 1,000 tankers are thought to carry at least 200,000 barrels of discounted oil every day to Iran and, to a lesser extent, Turkey, per the investigation. The trade is believed to be making about $200 million a month. The revelations are likely to add to tensions between Erbil and Washington DC, with American officials thought to be assessing whether the trade breaches economic sanctions against Iran.
The Reuters report added: “Twelve people said officials in Kurdistan’s two ruling parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of the Barzani clan and the PUK of the Talabani clan, were the beneficiaries [of the smuggling].”
