Iran Ready to Offer Lebanon 600,000 Tons of Fuel within One, Two Weeks

By Staff, Agencies

The Iranian embassy in Beirut said Tehran is ready to send fuel ships to Lebanon within one or two weeks to help the Mediterranean country run its power plants.

“Ships loaded with Iranian fuel are ready to sail towards Lebanon within a week or two and dock at any ports specified by the Lebanese side,” the Iranian embassy in Beirut told Al-Manar TV. 

The report added that a Lebanese delegation has been in Tehran since last week to discuss bilateral energy cooperation, namely Iran’s provision of fuel to Lebanon, construction of new power plants, and fixing of electrical power networks.

The Lebanese delegation’s visit to Tehran comes as Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Energy Minister Walid Fayad have earlier agreed to fuel deliveries from Iran, the report added.

In a meeting with Iranian ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani last week, Fayad said an Iranian fuel delivery, planned to reach the Arab country in the near future, will be vital to Beirut’s plans to reform its electricity supply system.

He added that fuel deliveries from Iran will enable the Lebanese Energy Ministry to boost its finances by increasing electricity supply to customers in the country.

He admitted, however, that Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and leader of the Lebanese Free Patriotic Movement Gebran Bassil had been influential in the success of Iran’s initiative to send fuel to Lebanon.

Reports also suggested that Amani had met Mikati to extend Iran’s offer of fuel deliveries to Lebanon at a time of economic hardship in the country.

In July, Sayyed Nasrallah expressed Hezbollah’s readiness to provide Iranian fuel to Lebanese power plants for free, conditioning the proposal to the Lebanese government’s approval.

Later in August, Sayyed Nasrallah slammed the US’s false promises for the transfer of natural gas and electricity from Egypt and Jordan to Lebanon, saying one year has passed since the US ambassador’s promise but nothing has happened in practice.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in his weekly presser on Monday that sending fuel shipments to Lebanon aims to aid Lebanon with its energy crisis.

Lebanon has been beset by a severe fuel crisis that has left many households and businesses struggling with recurrent power outages, while its economic meltdown since 2019 has slowed down imports of fuel for government plants.

Last year, Iran supplied much-needed fuel shipments to Lebanon via Syria after the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah asked for Iranian help to ease the energy shortage in the Arab country.