By Ahmed Rasheed, Maha El Dahan, Humeyra Pamuk and Anna Hirtenstein

BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) – Iranian drones swept through the mountain air of northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region in mid-July, homing in on their targets: oilfields run by Americans.

Fired by an Iranian-backed militia group within Iraq, likely in retaliation for U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites weeks earlier, one struck the Sarsang field operated by HKN Energy, a company owned by the son of Texas billionaire Ross Perot.

Another hit a nearby field run by Dallas-based Hunt Oil.

By the end of the four-day assault, which also disrupted operations at a local company and Norway’s DNO, nearly half of the Kurdistan region’s production had been halted.

The direct attack on U.S. interests enraged Washington, which had

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