Iran sends oil tankers to Lebanon amid fuel crisis

By Naim Berjawi and Stephanie Rady

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AA) – The Iranian Embassy in Lebanon announced Saturday the arrival of Iranian oil tankers to the capital Beirut, amid a fuel crisis gripping the country.

"Iranian oil tankers arrived in Lebanon against the trifles of the US ambassador [in Lebanon],” the embassy said on its Twitter account.

On Friday, US Ambassador Dorothy Shea told the local Al-Jadeed channel in an interview that Tehran was looking forward to Lebanon's dependence to exploit it in implementing its agenda.

"There are much better solutions to the fuel crisis in Lebanon than resorting to Iran," Shea said.

The embassy said the American envoy had “no right to interfere in the brotherly relations between the two countries and the Iranian and Lebanese peoples”.

The Lebanese authorities have yet to confirm the arrival of the Iranian oil tankers to its shores.

Meanwhile, the official Lebanese news agency quoted the country's General Directorate of Oil as saying that it "has not received any request for a permit from any official or private entity to import oil from Iran."

Since November 2018, the US has imposed oil sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program and for allegedly providing support to terrorist groups.

Lebanon has been in the past weeks suffering from an acute shortage of fuel due to the lack of sufficient foreign exchange to import, causing frequent power cuts and a severe fuel shortage.

Over the past two years, the Arab country has witnessed a severe economic crisis that has left it on the verge of a financial collapse.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara