IRAN IS READY TO SHIP MORE FUEL TO LEBANON IF NEEDED, SAYS IRANIAN OFFICIAL

 Reuters 23 August 2021

© 2020 Anadolu Agency Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh speaks during a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Tehran, Iran. (File photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

DUBAI, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday it is ready to ship more fuel to Lebanon if needed, a day after the leader of Lebanon's Iran-aligned Hezbollah group said more vessels carrying Iranian fuel would sail soon to help ease the country's fuel shortage.

"We sell our oil and its products at the request of our friends and clients. Iran is ready to send fuel again to Lebanon if needed," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said in an online weekly news conference.

On Sunday Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah said the first vessel shipping Iranian fuel to Lebanon, which last Thursday the group announced was about to leave Iran, had already sailed.

Iranian fuel shipments to Lebanon to help ease a crippling fuel shortage were all purchased by a group of Lebanese Shi'ite businessmen, Iran's semi-official Nournews said on Thursday.

Hezbollah's foes in Lebanon have warned of dire consequences from the move, saying it risked sanctions being imposed on a country whose economy has been in meltdown for nearly two years.

U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil exports, reimposed in 2018 when then-President Donald Trump exited Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with six powers, aim to cut its crude sales to zero.

Hezbollah, founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982, has also been targeted by U.S. sanctions. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Jan Harvey)