Iraq Says Iran Occupied a Border Oil Field

The New York Times
December 19, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html?_r=1&th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print
By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS and ERIC SCHMITT

Excerpt:
BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government said Friday that Iranian troops had crossed the border and occupied a portion of an oil field situated on disputed land between the two countries, but Iranian officials immediately and vehemently contested the account.
Amir al-Rashadi, a spokesman at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, said, “We don’t have any information about this, but we suspect it is all lies.”
Although ties between Tehran and Baghdad have been increasingly warm in recent years, the dispute underscores just how sore a point the border oil fields remain. Iraqi officials said that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki called a meeting of national security officials on Friday to determine a response.
In June, Iraq tried but failed to auction off development rights to the field, Fakka, in Maysan Province in southeastern Iraq. In recent months, Iraq has accused Iran of pumping oil from it.