Fuel purchases made for Afghan security forces using U.S. government funds may have included Iranian petroleum products in violation of U.S. sanctions, investigators said in a report published late on Wednesday. Afghanistan relies heavily on imported fuel and Iran, Russia, and Turkmenistan are the leading countries of origin, the report by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) says.

Afghan national security forces: limited visibility over fuel imports increases the risk that U.S.-funded fuel purchases could violate U.S.. economic sanctions against Iran< (PDF)

According to a new U.S. government report, the fuel that was bought from Turkmenistan and used by the United States security forces in Afghanistan also included oil from Iran, and Turkmenistan violated the related sanctions.

The report prepared by SIGAR investigating the use of funds specifies that U.S. forces and fuel suppliers in Afghanistan must comply with U.S. regulations.

The report, which states that sanctions restricting trade with Iran also cover fuel from Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, emphasized that suppliers provided fuel which was "blended" from different sources. According to the report, especially the petrol from Turkmenistan originates from Iran.

The report, which does not offer conclusive evidence but contains accusations against Turkmenistan, records that the Pentagon paid more than $800 million to the administration in Ashgabat last year in return for the supplied oil.