Trump's Syria plan shows US wants to steal oil: Experts
Tehran (KNA) - Legal and energy experts have censured US plans to tap Syrian oil fields, with a senior fellow at Brookings Institution saying it shows the world that Washington wants to “steal the oil.”
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, President Donald Trump said he intended to "make a deal with an ExxonMobil or one of our great companies to go in there and do it properly ... and spread out the wealth."
Bruce Riedel, a former national security adviser and now senior fellow at Brookings Institution, said the plan "is not only a dubious legal move, it sends a message to the whole region and the world that America wants to steal the oil."
Trump's decision comes while Damascus is in great need of its oil resources amid crippling unilateral Western sanctions, which were imposed after foreign-backed militancy began in the country in 2011.
The Pentagon announced on Thursday that the United States would deploy troops to "protect oil fields" in northeast Syria with the help of SDF Kurdish militants.
Source: PressTV