Kurdish oil smuggling to Iran flourishes

FILE PHOTO: Oil tankers are pictured near the Iraqi border with Turkey, on the outskirts of Duhok province, Iraq, May 11, 2024. REUTERS/Kawa Omar/File Photo

ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Heading for Turkey to the north and Iran to the east, hundreds of oil tankers snake each day from near Kurdistan's capital Erbil, clogging the Iraqi region's often winding and mountainous highways.

The tankers are the most visible aspect of a massive operation to truck oil from the semi-autonomous region of Iraq to Iran and Turkey in murky, off-the-books transactions that have boomed since an official export pipeline closed last year.