US Refused to Attack Turkey-Bound ISIL Oil Trucks: Iraqi Politician
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The US military refuses to attack ISIL trucks that carry stolen Iraqi and Syrian oil to Turkey, arguing that these are civilian targets, a prominent Iraqi politician said.
“I have personally contacted US representatives asking them to target ISIL trucks transporting Iraqi and Syrian oil to Turkey only to be told that those were civilian targets so they could not attack them,” a leader of the State of Law Coalition party in the Iraqi parliament and former National Security Adviser Mowaffak Rubaie, told Sputnik by telephone on Saturday.
On Wednesday Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the incident with the Russian Su-24 bomber shot down by a Turkish fighter jet over Syria was in response to Russian attacks on ISIL oil installations.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem earlier said that the son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could have an interest in the illegal oil trade with the Islamic State terrorist group.
He also said that Turkey had shot down the Russian plane acting on behalf of the oil company owned by Mr. Erdogan’s son, Bilal.
Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin’s press-secretary Dmitry Peskov also said that Moscow had information that the son of the Turkish President “has an interest in the oil business.”