Report: Maliki orders arrests of striking oil workers for 'sabotaging the economy'

Above: A guard on duty at a Basra oil facility in southern Iraq, where the overwhelming majority of the country's oil reserves lie.

Arrest warrants have been issued for Iraqi oil workers, union leaders say, as they end the third day of a strike that has cut production.

According to a statement released by numerous international solidarity groups working with the oil workers in and around Basra, in southern Iraq, the workers were charged with "sabotaging the economy" and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Tuesday he'd meet "with an iron fist" those who threaten Iraq's oil production.

Oil is 70 percent of Iraq's gross domestic product and the 1.6 million barrels per day of oil sales on the international market bring in more than 93 percent of the federal budget's funds.

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