UN condemns terrorist oil sales from Iraq, Syria

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council is strongly condemning any sale of oil from Syria or Iraq by terrorist groups and is reminding all countries that buying this illegally obtained oil violates U.N. sanctions.

A presidential statement approved Monday targets two terrorist groups: Jabhat al-Nusra, one of the most powerful Syrian rebel groups; and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, which has seized a wide swath of territory in eastern Syria and western Iraq and now calls itself the Islamic State.

The Russian-drafted statement expresses concern that oilfields or infrastructure controlled by terrorist organizations "could generate material income for terrorists, which would support their recruitment efforts, including of foreign terrorist fighters, and strengthen their operational capability to organize and carry out terrorist attacks."