Hezbollah agrees to export Iranian fuel to Lebanon

Syed Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, said on Friday that a third ship carrying Iranian fuel had agreed to reduce the country’s deficit.

“We agreed to load a third ship,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech.

“The coming days will show doubts about the shipment that comes with the fuel … Our words will be clear when the first ship arrives in Lebanon.”

On Sunday, Nasrallah said the first ship carrying Iranian fuel to Lebanon had already departed.

Hezbollah’s enemies in Lebanon have warned of dire consequences from the embargo, which could impose sanctions on a country that has been stagnating for nearly two years.

Hezbollah leader Syed Hassan Nasrallah delivered a televised speech after the bombing of Beirut on Tuesday, August 7, 2020.

In an interview with Saudi television channel Al Hadat on Friday, Prime Minister-elect Najib Mikadi said he was opposed to anything that could harm Lebanon’s interests, but that the country should not help critics of Iran’s fuel deals.

He blamed the Nazareth economic crisis for the US economic siege.

“Free Lebanon from Iranian petrol and diesel … Destroy Lebanon from Caesar,” Nasrallah told the United States in his speech.

Lebanon’s worst fuel shortages hit the country this month, threatening to shut down daily life.

Nasrallah urged top politicians to stop discussing the names of the new cabinet and form a government as a matter of urgency.

“It’s time for this debate to end,” he said.

It is being led by the caretaker government of Prime Minister Hassan Daib, who stepped down from his cabinet a year ago after a major port explosion in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Mikadi has been appointed as the third prime minister to try to form a government with Hezbollah ally President Michael Aun.