AMARA, Iraq — Iranian troops remained within Iraq's borders on Monday despite having withdrawn from an oil well along the two countries' disputed frontier, a local politician told AFP.

Oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad, meanwhile, said the oil well had not yet been developed, and no Iraqis had worked to extract crude from it before Iran took it over last week.

"The Iranians withdrew from the well and took down the Iranian flag," Mayssam Lafta, the Maysan provincial council member charged with security and defence, told AFP.

"But they are still on Iraqi soil."

The well, known as Oil Well 4, is situated in Maysan.

According to Lafta, the Iranians are positioned 50 metres (yards) east of the well, while Iraqi forces are "surrounding the well."

Jihad told AFP on Monday that the oil well had "not been developed" and added that no workers would be going to it because it was not in use.

The facility lies in disputed territory about 100 metres from the Iranian border, according to Iraqi officials. Iran says the oil well falls within its borders.

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