An eight-year mission safeguarding two important oil platforms has come to an end for Coalition forces, with the Iraqi Navy taking over full responsibility for their security. Since the fall of the Saddam regime in 2003, the waters around the Khawr Al Amaya and Al Basra Oil Terminals, known as KAAOT and ABOT, have been given round-the-clock protection mainly by British, American (pictured below) and Australian warships. Security control of the KAAOT was handed back to Iraqi jurisdiction in May 2009 after the introduction of new purpose-built patrol vessels and years of working alongside a UK-US training team based at Umm Qasr. Iraqi forces assumed control of ABOT in April 2011.
