People wave Hezbollah flags as they welcome tankers with Iranian fuel in Baalbeck, Lebanon, September 16, 2021 (AFP)
Israel’s military has said it will not try to block Iran’s shipments of diesel fuel to Lebanon.
facing its own economic problems and amid stalled talks over its nuclear program, Tehran has sought a high-profile PR victory with the shipments. Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which is part of a tenuous coalition government, is seeking advantage over political rivals by declaring its role in ensuring the deliveries amid the country’s long-running economic and financial crisis.
Video showed dozens of trucks with Iranian diesel arriving in Lebanon on Thursday. The political significance was further elevated by the movement of the fuel through Syria, where the Assad regime has been sanctioned over its mass killing of civilians and other crimes against humanity.
Israel has reportedly carried out dozens of attacks on Iranian ships transporting oil to Syria, as well as regularly striking Iranian and Hezbollah targets inside the country. Tehran has responded with its own strikes on vessels linked to Israeli interests.
See also EA on The Newsmakers: Iran, Israel, and the War on Shipping
Lebanon Was in Deep Trouble. Now It’s in Cataclysmic Trouble.
But the recently-retired coamander of the Israeli Navy, Vice Adm. Eli Sharvit, told the Associated Press that Israel has “no interest” in targeting fuel deliveries amid Lebanon’s shattered economy and fuel shortages.
He reiterated that Israel will continue attacks to prevent weapons transfers to Hezbollah: “We are very vigilant concerning seaborne arms shipments, and every time that a shipment is one of arms, and not something else, we act.”
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said earlier this week that the Iranian tanker did not offload oil directly in Lebanon to avoid embarrassment of authorities and the risk of sanctions.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV proclaimed “the tanker truck convoys to break the American siege”, saying they would deliver the fuel a Hezbollah-linked distribution company in Baalbek in eastern Lebanon. The company, al-Amana, is already sanctioned by the US.
Lebanon’s new Prime Minister Najib Mikati, head of a government formed last week after a 13-month deadlock, has not commented on the deliveries.
Data shows Iran has not imported any of the 3 US-developed vaccines: https://www.farsnews.ir/news/14000626000330
Iranian health officials have authorised for import AstraZeneca and J&J vaccines produced by partners in India and Korea but not for Pfizer and Moderna.
Iran is mass producing a local vaccine, Barekat (manufactured by a Khamenei-controlled foundation) and one more soon to be mass produced (Fakhra). Another vaccine for children (Nora) is being developed.
Varharan,
I’ve reviewed notes and our articles.
January 8: Supreme Leader’s speech banning all US- and UK-developed vaccines, “Sometimes they want to test [their products] on other nations…Importing the American and British vaccines is banned.”
April 5: Iran receives the first batch of UK-developed AstraZeneca vaccines in a COVAX delivery. This is the first (unacknowledged) retreat from the Supreme Leader’s ban.
May 17: Iran receives a second, large batch of AstraZeneca in a COVAX delivery.
https://reliefweb.int/report/iran-islamic-republic/islamic-republic-iran-receives-second-delivery-covid-19-vaccines
August 16: In a further retreat from the Supreme Leader’s ban, head of Food and Drug Administration Mohammad-Reza Shanehsaz announces Iran will issue permits for US-developed Pfizer and Moderna, provided the manufacture is outside the US.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/08/19/iran-government-mismanagement-compounds-covid-19-crisis
September 2: Third batch of AstraZeneca vaccines included in COVAX delivery
Iran Covid deaths drop to 364: https://en.irna.ir/news/84474010/Iran-s-COVID-19-death-toll-drops-to-364
This despite that just 15% of the population is vaccinated. Authorities are using all possible means to fight the virus, not just relying on vaccines.
The U.S suffered another horrific day with more than 3000 deaths: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104709/coronavirus-deaths-worldwide-per-million-inhabitants/
CNN report on a family of a fully vaccinated woman blaming the unvaccinated for her death by Covid:
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/15/us/illinois-family-vaccine-obit/index.html
Iran’s petrochemical, fuel sales boom as sanctions hit crude exports: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/irans-petrochemical-fuel-sales-boom-sanctions-hit-crude-exports-2021-09-17/
Iran has long sought to replace crude exports with derivatives. The United States’ sanctions are forcing it down that path.