Al-Rai: Washington denies resuming al-Aqaba inspection

A Jordanian paper said on Monday that an official at the US navy ruled out any resumption of the inspection operations of ships heading from to the Gulf of al-Aqaba, to the south of Jordan, in order to prevent the smuggling of the Iraqi oil.

The Jordanian daily al-Rai quoted the American naval official Allen Moore, who lives in Bahrain, saying that "there is no evidence on that the banned smuggling operations of goods has been resumed." However, Moore added that the US inspection force keeps its right to implement UN Security Council resolutions if these resolutions are violated.