Iran Reportedly Sends Five Tankers to Venezuela Amid US Economic Blockade
Venezuela is suffering from an acute economic crisis that has been exacerbated by economic sanctions imposed against the country by the US in 2019, essentially crippling the nation’s oil refineries among other things.
Five Iranian oil tankers are reportedly sailing towards Venezuela purportedly carrying fuel for the Latin American state, online media outlet Al-Masdar News reported citing maritime services’ information. Three tankers, Fortune, Petunia, and Forest are currently crossing the Atlantic, while two more, Faxon and Clavel are crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
In recent weeks the shortages of gasoline in Venezuela have reached a peak due to US illegal sanctions and their criminal sabotage of any attempt from the Venezuelan government to solve the problem.
“While thousands of US citizens die due Covid-19 and Trump’s terrible handling of the crisis, in Washington they try to asphyxiate the Venezuelan economy and kill Venezuelans that are giving an heroic battle of resistance against US imperialism but also against Covid-19,” an analyst said to the Orinoco Tribune.
“There is no confirmation of these reports but the US Department of State uses Reuters to spread this story and to create a threatening environment for those standing against US global dictatorship. Venezuela and Iran won’t bend their knees to illegal US sanctions and we are sure that Russia, China and other countries will oppose any military threat coming from US navy fleet currently blockading Venezuela under the guise of the ‘war on drugs’ while putting the lives of millions of Venezuelans at risk,” he added.
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One monitoring service, Marine Traffic, however, indicates that only one of the ships, Forest, is heading towards South America without indicating the specific country, while the others are yet to announce their destination ports. It’s also unclear what cargo are they carrying from the information provided by the maritime monitoring system.
5 tankers full of Iranian fuel currently on their way from Iran to Venezuela #Venezuela #Iran https://t.co/ruXn8GURLZ
— CNW (@ConflictsW) May 14, 2020
Even if the tankers are heading towards Venezuela, they might face trouble because the US recently deployed three destroyers and a littoral combat ship, the USS Detroit, to the Caribbean Sea. The US Navy could potentially illegally intercept the vessels if they receive such orders.
All in 💪🏼#USSDetroit travels in formation with #USSLassen, #USSPreble, #USSFarragut and a P-8A aircraft assigned to VP-26 while conducting maritime security operations in the Caribbean. The forces are deployed to the @Southcom AOR. #forcetobereckonedwith #EnduringPromise pic.twitter.com/gDDpexPlF7
— USNAVSO_4THFLT (@NAVSOUS4THFLT) May 13, 2020
Both Venezuela and Iran have of late been suffering due to the American sanctions, especially their oil industries. The Latin American state’s refining capabilities have reportedly been crippled by the joint impact of sanctions and economic crisis, leading to fuel shortages.
US Special Representative for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, earlier claimed that Tehran is supplying Caracas with equipment needed to restart the country’s refineries in exchange for gold from Venezuelan reserves. However, Iran slammed the claims as “baseless” and, in turn, condemned Washington’s attempts to destroy the Venezuelan economy and to topple its president, Nicolas Maduro. Tehran suggested that the accusations were made only to serve as a pretext for new sanctions against both countries.
Washington has been actively killing thousand of Venezuelans, arguing that sanctions only affect high ranked Chavista officials with the only intention to promote a regime change and put a puppet government to play their anti-China and Russia narrative. Maduro and the Chavista people, however, refuse to budge, surviving a coup attempt reportedly organized with aid from the US and a kidnapping attempt planned by US private military company Silvercorp. The US, however, denied any connection to Silvercorp’s actions, despite Maduro accusing President Donald Trump of orchestrating the mercenary operation and presenting solid evidence in that regard.
Featured image: File photo: A satellite photograph shows the Iranian oil tanker ‘Grace 1’ off the coast of Syria. AP
Source URL: Sputnik with OT content
Edited by JRE/EF
