Iraq, Iran standoff over an oil well ended peacefully

A standoff between Iraq and Iran over a remote oil well ended peacefully Sunday as Iranian forces pulled back from the disputed site.

In Iraq’s southern Maysan province, Iraqi soldiers escorted about a dozen oil workers back to well No. 4 on the al-Fakkah oil field after Iranian forces withdrew overnight. Iraqi soldiers planted the Iraqi flag on the well where Iran’s flag had flown during the dispute that began last Thursday.

“The problem is solved now,” Abdul-Karim Elaibi, Iraq’s senior deputy oil minister, told The Associated Press. Diplomatic talks over the disputed border were continuing, he said.

In Tehran, the office of Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said he and his Iraqi counterpart, Hoshyar Zebari, discussed the case in a phone conversation late Saturday.

Mottaki said Iran was committed to talks with Iraq through a joint border committee and accused foreign media of trying to undermine ties between the two countries. AP