An end to oil smuggling

last updated 8 January 2015

Persian Gulf

U.S. and allied ships have stepped up patrols in the Persian Gulf to intercept boats smuggling illegal Iraqi oil to world markets. Under U.N. sanctions, Iraq is supposed to trade only a limited amount of oil, and receive only food and humanitarian aid in return. But Saddam Hussein has been smuggling out millions of barrels on the black market to raise cash that he can use to buy weapons. In preparation for possible war, a joint U.S., British, and Australian fleet is turning off that spigot. “We are operating continually inside Iraq’s territorial waters,” Australian Commodore Peter Sinclair, the fleet commander, told The New York Times. “The smugglers know there is a big gray warship blocking the river before they even set sail.”