ONCE VIOLENT FOES, IRAN NOW AIDS IRAQ IN SMUGGLING OIL PAST EMBARGO.Byline: Charles J. Hanley Associated Press Skirting the shoals of Iran's Persian Gulf coast, tankers are smuggling smuggling, illegal transport across state or national boundaries of goods or persons liable to customs or to prohibition. Smuggling has been carried on in nearly all nations and has occasionally been adopted as an instrument of national policy, as by Great Britain tens of thousands of tons of diesel fuel out of Iraq in violation of U.N. sanctions, a U.S. admiral said last week. The embargo busters and their Iranian protectors have had two confrontations with the Navy in the past two weeks. In one unpublicized showdown, an unidentified tugboat tugboat, small, strongly built vessel, used to guide large oceangoing ships into and out of port and to tow barges, dredging and salvage equipment, and disabled vessels. rammed a U.S. frigate frigate (frĭg`ĭt), originally a long, narrow nautical vessel used on the Mediterranean, propelled by either oars or sail or both. Later, during the 18th and early 19th cent. . ``Our indications are that this is a rather sophisticated effort, centrally controlled within Iran,'' Vice Adm. Thomas B. Fargo Admiral Thomas Boulton Fargo (born June 1948) served in the United States Navy during the late 20th century and early 21st century. He served as Commander, United States Pacific Command, at Camp H. M. Smith, Hawaii from May 2, 2002 to February 26, 2005. , commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet, told the Associated Press at his Bahrain headquarters. The ``Iran connection'' is one visible sign of cooperation between the two former enemies in trying to foil American efforts to enforce U.N. trade sanctions on Iraq. But the main motive is money. Iraq, desperate to circumvent the embargo, will sell oil cheap, and a 2,000-ton shipment of diesel fuel can net $150,000, Fargo estimated. Crews of intercepted vessels tell investigators that Iranian authorities are taking a cut of the profits. ``A protection fee is paid to the Iranians that guarantees them safe passage through territorial waters territorial waters: see waters, territorial. territorial waters Waters under the sovereign jurisdiction of a nation or state, including both marginal sea and inland waters. ,'' the admiral said. He said an Iranian Revolutionary Guard maritime station at the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway that separates Iran and Iraq appeared to be the ``gatekeeper'' for the illicit shipments. Even businessmen in one U.S.-allied nation profit from the smuggling. Fargo said some smuggled smug·gle v. smug·gled, smug·gling, smug·gles v.tr. 1. To import or export without paying lawful customs charges or duties. 2. To bring in or take out illicitly or by stealth. diesel fuel eventually is offloaded in the United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates, federation of sheikhdoms (2005 est. pop. 2,563,000), c.30,000 sq mi (77,700 sq km), SE Arabia, on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. in the southern Persian Gulf. He said U.S. officials are ``working very closely with the UAE (Uninterruptible Application Error) The name given to a crash in Windows 3.0. In subsequent versions of Windows, a crash was called a "General Protection Fault," "Application Error" or "Illegal Operation." See crash in Windows and abend. government'' to ensure enforcement in UAE waters. The Emirates says it does not have the capability to monitor its entire lengthy coast for smugglers. The U.N. sanctions were imposed in 1990 to punish Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait The Invasion of Kuwait, also known as the Iraq-Kuwait War, was a major conflict between the Republic of Iraq and the State of Kuwait which resulted in the 7 month long Iraqi occupation of Kuwait[4] , and have been maintained because of Iraq's apparently continuing efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction Weapons that are capable of a high order of destruction and/or of being used in such a manner as to destroy large numbers of people. Weapons of mass destruction can be high explosives or nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological weapons, but exclude the means of transporting or . Since mid-December, however, an exception has been made for the sale of limited amounts of Iraqi petroleum, under U.N. supervision, to buy needed food and medicine. As legitimate shipments have begun to leave Iraqi ports, the diesel smugglers have stepped up their work as well. ``Through our reconnaissance capabilities'' - satellites and U.S. aircraft - ``we can image these guys as they're loading up,'' Fargo said. The diesel smuggling ``has increased to 60,000 metric tons per month, due to the fact that there's a significant profit to be made,'' he said. After picking up the fuel at ports on the Shatt, the ships - not only small tankers, but other vessels that flood their ballast tanks and compartments with the cargo - hug the Iranian coast as they steam southward. Fargo said some 30 vessels have been identified on the ``Iran connection'' run, one having traversed the route at least nine times. Both international law and treacherous coastal shoals keep the deep-hulled U.S. destroyers on sanctions patrol out of Iran's 12-mile-wide territorial waters. A watch officer aboard the destroyer USS Cushing, steaming in the northern Gulf, said crew members can detect the boats but cannot go after them. On Feb. 4, Iran's interest in the trade became clear to destroyer crews when the USS Nicholson cut off and boarded a diesel smuggler in international waters, and an Iranian patrol boat sped to the scene. When the Cushing arrived to back up the Nicholson, the Iranian craft, armed with anti-ship missiles, began circling the U.S. warships. Their crews took up defensive positions on deck. ``It was hairy,'' a young Cushing officer recounted, speaking on condition he not be named. ``One little Iranian gunboat gunboat, small warship for use on rivers and along coasts in places inaccessible to vessels of larger displacement. In the U.S. Civil War both sides used as gunboats, on the Mississippi and other rivers, any boat that had an engine and had room to mount a gun. had two $800 million destroyers totally tied up.'' The incident ended peacefully and the destroyers impounded the smuggler vessel after the Iranian boat left. A week earlier, Jan. 26, the USS Reid was not so lucky. The frigate, in international waters, intercepted a tug towing a barge laden with illicit fuel out of Iraq. The tug cut the barge loose, rammed the U.S. warship warship, any ship built or armed for naval combat. The forerunners of the modern warship were the men-of-war of the 18th and early 19th cent., such as the ship of the line, frigate, corvette, sloop of war (see sloop), brig, and cutter. twice and then raced to an Iranian safe haven. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: American sailors return to the USS Cushing, which patrols for oil smugglers in the Persian Gulf. Associated Press |
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