Arabic-language media report that Iraq's government has accused Iran of siphoning Iraqi oil from wells near their shared border.

The news reports say the Iraqi government has sent a letter to the Iranian embassy in Baghdad demanding that Tehran stop encroaching on the oil fields.

A London-based Arabic newspaper, Al-Hayat, quotes an Iraqi foreign ministry official, Muhammad Mahmud al-Hajj, as saying Baghdad will soon send a delegation to Iran to discuss the issue.

The Iraqi official says Baghdad wants to negotiate a solution to its border dispute with Tehran and to reach an agreement for developing joint oil wells in the border region.

Iraq and Iran have for decades claimed sovereignty over the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which forms the southern-most section of their common border.