The United States may impede the movement of tankers transporting fuel to Venezuela, back to Iran, said Bahram Amirahmadian, expert on international affairs and geopolitics.
Recently, four tankers with fuel and equipment for an oil refinery arrived in Venezuela from Iran. The fifth is expected to arrive soon. At the same time, the tankers were accompanied by the Venezuelan military.
The expert told the reporters why the United States did not obstruct tankers while sailing to a Latin American country, and suggested under what conditions tankers could run into problems.
According to him, sending tankers to Venezuela is Iran’s economic activity in bilateral trade, for which international waters were used.
“No country and no force can interfere with international shipping in free waters, unless there are international sanctions by the UN regarding, for example, the supply of weapons to the sanctioned party or other similar restrictions”, – Amirahmadian said.
According to him, the absence of any problems in carrying out trading activities was also made possible due to the fact that Tehran and Caracas did not resort to cashless payments using dollars through banking operations, which the US can track and can hinder, since both countries are located sanctioned by Washington.
“Without resorting to the banking system, Venezuela was able to conduct trading operations either at the expense of cash or through clearing. For this reason, the United States could not do anything that could interfere with the exchange”, – the expert added.
However, he did not rule out that tankers may encounter problems on the way back, but on condition that they call at the ports of the American allies.
“Of course, there is such a possibility that if tankers need to refuel in the ports of the US allies, the vessels may be temporarily delayed, they may not be provided with fuel or not served, thus interfering with the continuation of their voyage”, – Amirahmadian said.
He also explained why a country with one of the largest oil reserves in the world needed Iranian gasoline: in Iran, due to the situation with coronavirus, surpluses appeared that needed to be sold; in Venezuela, refining capacities at oil refineries fell due to depreciation of equipment, and political instability.
Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that the administration of the US President Donald Trump is exploring the possibility of imposing new sanctions against Iran to block the export of Iranian oil to Venezuela. After five Iranian tankers set off for Venezuela, the issue of sanctions against the crews of tankers or the confiscation of these tankers in case of refueling in ports of third countries is considered.
The Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has promised the United States “problems” if Iranian tankers, including those going to Venezuela, encounter difficulties due to Washington’s actions.