Turkey does not smuggle oil from Daesh: US official

WASHINGTON

The U.S. sees no evidence that the Turkish government is purchasing oil from Daesh, a senior Treasury official said on Wednesday.

Speaking during a press briefing at the White House, the Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam Szubin reiterated that the Turkish government was not involved in any oil smuggling with the group.

"The preponderance of their (Daesh) sales, we believe, are happening at the well head, in a sense; in other words, they are selling to middlemen or black-marketeers, who are then, in turn, providing it to others," Szubin said.

However, he added that Daesh used the majority of its oil to fuel their own efforts and military acts in the territories they rule.

Daesh is thought to earn millions of dollars per month from oil sales which they generate from the fields it controls in Syria and Iraq.

Following the downing of a Russian warplane that violated Turkey’s airspace near the Syrian border on Nov. 24, Russia announced sanctions against Turkey and President Vladimir Putin has alleged Turkish involvement in oil purchases from Daesh.

Since then, the U.S. officials from all levels have been denying the claims.