Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s announcement on Thursday that a vessel loaded with Iranian oil will be making its way to Lebanon to help it with its severe shortage has stirred a heated political debate and warnings of the implication such a move would have on the country.
The bankrupt Lebanese state can no longer afford key imports nor subsidize essential goods, leading to crippling and sometimes deadly shortages of electricity, petrol and medicines among other things.
Nasrallah Thursday said a tanker would set off from Iran to bring desperately needed fuel supplies to Lebanon, in defiance of US sanctions.
Nasrallah had previously said that he would turn to his movement’s ally Tehran if authorities failed to address acute and growing fuel shortages brought on by an economic crisis the World Bank has described as one of the planet’s worst since the mid-19th century.
The move, prohibited by US sanctions on Iran’s oil industry, could drag Lebanon into the covert naval war between Tehran and Israel, and Nasrallah dared Iran’s foes to stop the shipment.
Hezbollah’s rivals have warned of the danger of the move, which could ignite a war with Israel should it intercept the tanker.
The party’s allies have remained silent, while the presidency and energy ministry have yet to issue any clarification over Nasrallah’s statements.
Parliamentary sources that are not opposed to Hezbollah said the decision to import fuel lies in the hands of the executive authority, meaning the government and energy ministry.
They alone have the right to grant permission to unload oil derivative shipments at public ports, they told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Consequently, the executive authority must shoulder the consequences of suspicious moves, they added.
Sources at the energy ministry denied to MTV that it had received an official request to import Iranian oil to Lebanon.
Nasrallah said the first shipment would be dedicated to meeting the needs of hospitals, medicine manufacturers, food factories, bakeries and power generators.
He warned the Israelis and Americans that Hezbollah considers the vessel Lebanese territory, meaning it would retaliate should it come under attack.
Ships linked to both Iran and Israel have come under attack at sea in recent months, with the rivals trading blame.
The Iranian shipment may arrive in Lebanon in 12 to 15 days. It remains to be seen if it will be unloaded at Lebanese or Syrian ports or transported by land to Lebanon.
Nasrallah’s announcement sparked widespread concerns over the threat of US sanctions.
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri asked: “Are the arrival of Iranian ships good news to the Lebanese or an omen that Lebanon will be dragged into internal and foreign conflicts?”
Hezbollah “is well aware that the Iranian ships will bring along to the Lebanese dangers and additional sanctions similar to the ones imposed on Venezuela and other countries,” he noted in a statement.
Saying that the Iranian ship is Lebanese territory “is the epitome of squandering our national sovereignty and an open invitation to treat Lebanon as an Iranian province,” he remarked.
“We will not under any circumstances provide cover for projects that would plunge Lebanon in futile wars that antagonize the Arabs and world,” he stressed.
“What sort of government do you want? One that begins its work by welcoming Iranian ships and colliding with the international community at a time when Lebanon is most in need of a government that enjoys the support of brothers and friends,” Hariri continued.
Lebanon has been without a government since August 2020. It resigned in wake of the cataclysmic explosion at Beirut port. Politicians, squabbling over shares and portfolios, have been unable to agree on a lineup even as the country plunges deeper in poverty and is hit with successive crises.
“Hezbollah can cover itself with the silence of the presidency, but it will not win the support of the majority of the Lebanese people. These positions will exacerbate the living and economic suffering of the people and pave the highway to hell,” Hariri warned.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea expressed alarm at Nasrallah’s announcement. In a message to Hezbollah’s ally, President Michel Aoun, he blamed the energy ministry, which has long been held by Aoun’s party, of impeding solutions to the country’s power and fuel crises.
“Will you allow the party, which has usurped Lebanon’s strategic, military and security decision-making power, to now usurp its economic decision-making power, sweeping aside the Lebanese people and their interests and completely destroying the private sector?” he wondered.
