Iran, Russia, and Syria have established an operations room to secure a safe and stable flow of oil supplies and wheat to circumvent the EU and US sanctions, according to sources in Damascus.
State-owned Syrian News Agency (SANA) reported that President Bashar al-Assad had discussed last week with the special envoy of the Russian president, Alexander Laverntiev, strengthening joint action to find solutions to the current difficulties facing the country as a result of the policies imposed by some Western countries, and reduce the effects of the sanctions imposed on the Syrian people.
Sputnik reported that the three countries established an operations room to secure a safe and stable flow via the Mediterranean.
The report said there had recently been intensive meetings among the trilateral representatives to find ways to break the blockade imposed by the US and Europe on Syria.
Iran previously sent three ships carrying oil to Syria through the Suez Canal and Russia pledged to send wheat to Damascus, noting that most of Syria's oil and food resources are under the control of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
"The supply of oil will continue during the coming period through the collection of a number of Iranian ships and sending them to Syria in a single batch, provided that the Russian naval fleet in the Mediterranean would take over the safety of their access to the Syrian ports continuously until the end of this year," the sources said.
The room aims to secure multi-faceted coordination to ensure the arrival of oil to the Syrian ports, especially after the fuel crisis, due to the tight enforcement of its supply routes.
Syria’s worst oil crisis in decades is a result of the US control of oil fields in the east of the country and later selling oil in the areas controlled by al-Nusra Front in Idlib and the Turkmen militias in the north. In addition, the surplus oil is smuggled to Iraq and oil tankers are prevented from reaching Syrian ports.
According to the Sputnik sources, the new mechanism has ensured safe access to the Syrian estuaries for four Iranian tankers transporting crude oil and natural gas and escorted by Russian warships over the recent days.
Russian vessels continue to transport large quantities of wheat to Syria, within the context of contracts signed earlier. The wheat supplies will continue until the end of June, which means that Syria will have secured its flour needs until the mid of 2022.
The Russian agency indicated that the successive arrival of wheat supplies to Syria will put an end to the bread crisis that Syrians are suffering from as a result of the US army smuggling wheat stocks in eastern Syria to neighboring countries.
