A woman sits in front of a portrait of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on May 25, 2021 in Khiam, South Lebanon. (Credit: Reuters/Aziz Taher)
BEIRUT — In a televised address, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the party has agreed with Iran to start loading a third ship containing fuel to Lebanon, with more to come in the future.
Here’s what we know so far:
• Last week, during his televised address commemorating the Ashoura holiday, Nasrallah, said that a shipment of diesel would set sail from Iran to Lebanon within hours and more would follow, Hezbollah warning the United States and Israel that the ship would be considered Lebanese territory as soon as it departed. However, it still remains unclear when and how the shipment will arrive.
• On Monday, Iran said it is willing to ship more fuel to Lebanon if needed, a day after Nasrallah said more vessels carrying Iranian fuel would sail soon to help ease the country’s fuel shortage.
• Earlier today, during an interview with Al Hadath, Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati was asked about the prospect of Lebanon receiving Iranian fuel to which he said, “We will not allow anyone to drive us into a series of sanctions" and called on the Arab countries to give Lebanon “'a candle,' as we cannot say no to the Iranian ships when we do not have any alternative." The prospect of Iranian fuel imports raises the prospect of US sanctions on Lebanon.
• For its part, the United States has presented two proposals to assist Lebanon in increasing its supply of electricity: one involves importing Egyptian natural gas via the Arab Gas Pipeline, which runs from Egypt to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. The second would involve drawing power from the Jordanian electrical grid via Syria. However, the future of these plans is uncertain, as they would require an agreement by the Syrian government and would also require a waiver of US sanctions against the regime of Bashar al-Assad under the Caesar Act.