3 yıl önce

Lebanon eyes third shipment of Iranian fuel

Lebanese leaders are wary of relying on Tehran to meet country's energy needs but have no other option.

Reuters

Cars queue to fuel up at a gas station in Dora, Lebanon on August 20, 2021.

The leader of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has said a third vessel of Iranian fuel has been secured to ease crippling shortages in the country.

"We have agreed to start loading a third vessel," Nasrallah said in a televised speech on Friday.

"The coming days will prove those doubtful about the shipments arriving with fuel wrong...and our words will be clear when the first vessel reaches Lebanon."

This comes as Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati said he still had to overcome major hurdles to forming a new government, amid a deep economic and political crisis.

Asked about Nasrallah's comments, Mikati said he was against anything that would harm Lebanon's interests.

"We will not let anyone lead us to new sanctions," he said. "But I tell the critics and the Arab League give us a candle, we can't say no to the shipment without having an alternative."

A grave situation

Mikati, the third person picked to try to form a government since last year, told Saudi-owned television network Al Hadath that the situation in Lebanon remained grave.

Forming a government is a necessary first step to secure international support to help pull Lebanon out of its deepest crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war. The currency has collapsed, while medicines and fuel are running out.

The prime minister's post is held by a Sunni according to Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system.

Lebanon was being run by the caretaker government of Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who resigned with his cabinet after a massive Beirut port blast ripped through the capital a year ago.