Ex-CIA officer says Islamic State secret oil lifeline runs through Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net - Most Islamic State illegal oil exports are probably conducted through Turkey and Kurdish areas, facilitated by corrupt regional officials, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) counterterrorism officer and the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee senior investigator told Sputnik.

According to John Kiriakou, the Islamic State has made about $40 million in one month of oil sales, making close to $500 million a year.

"I’ve always assumed someone on the Turkish side of the border is making enough money out of it," Kiriakou said on Thursday, October 29. "They greased the right people. Someone’s making a lot of money out of this."

Kiriakou noted that the current Islamic State illegal oil trade followed the same basic pattern that longtime Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein used to defy international economic sanctions.

Turkey is an ally of the United States and has been a NATO member for 60 years, but Kiriakou said not the official Turkish government stands behind this, but probably corrupt elements of the Turkish military and officials in local and regional governments in southwest Turkey.

The U.S. government has the resources to seriously reduce and interdict this lucrative oil traffic, but so far has failed to do so, Kiriakou argued.

"It’s a question of priorities. Other goals and missions have been rated as having more urgent calls on intelligence and tactical resources," he said.

The richest oil fields that the Islamic State can access are south of Irbil in Iraq and the most obvious direction for the Islamic State to move the oil is westwards through Kurdish territory, Kiriakou explained.

Washington, he added, should be cooperating closely with Russia in cutting the Islamic State’s oil revenue flow.

Iraq's Oil Ministry told Sputnik that the Islamic State continues to sell hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day on the black market.