Iraq’s oil ministry denied on Monday allegations about purchasing, receiving or re-exporting Iranian crude oil, saying that export operations are subject to strict controls.

Energy-rich Iran faces obstacles to getting its crude oil and fuel to the global market and has for years used complex routes and shadow fleets to disguise its flows and skirt mostly Western sanctions.

Iran exported nearly 1.98 billion barrels of oil over the four years when US President Joe Biden was in office, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) said in its annual Tanker Tracker report released in January.

Iran's oil industry is in the midst of a crisis as approximately 80% of its active oil fields are in the latter stages of their life cycle, experiencing productivity declines.