Iran's IRGC offers to help in BP spill

TEHRAN, June 22 (UPI) -- Despite U.N. Security Council sanctions, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is ready to help contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, commanders said.

The international community has offered various levels of expertise to help Washington and British petroleum company BP contain the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Brig. Gen. Rostam Qasemi, the commander of the IRGC, said he could send experts from Iranian company Khatam al-Anbiya to help the effort under way in the Gulf of Mexico, state-funded broadcaster Press TV reports.

If Washington and British experts feel they are unable to contain the spill, he said, "they can formally ask Iran for assistance" and Tehran will "send experts from Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters to help end the major crisis and an environmental disaster."

Iran, he says, has experience managing massive oil leaks in the Persian Gulf.

Khatam al-Anbiya was targeted by U.N. Security Council sanctions passed June 9 against Iran.

The U.S. Treasury Department in February included Qasemi and Khatam al-Anbiya, the construction arm of the IRGC, on its list of sanctioned Iranian entities.