Page 4 - LatAmOil Week 22

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil

Venezuela hopes the Iranian supplies will alleviate gasoline shortages (Photo: Kayhan)

Continuing confrontation

In an attemt to deter further shipments of Iranian gasoline to Venezuela,

the Trump administration has quietly issued warnings around the world

VENEZUELA welcomed the arrival of an Ira- have said that Washington is urging various
nian gasoline cargo last week and has since seen countries to deny port services to the flotilla.
WHAT: another four cargoes arrive in its waters. This Nevertheless, the Venezuelan navy has con-
Venezuela has received arrangement has drawn a sharp response from tinued to escort Iranian tankers into its waters.
the first of five Iranian the US government, which has imposed sanc- The last of the five arrived before this issue of
gasoline shipments. tions on both countries. LatAmOil went to press.
On May 28, Elliott Abrams, the US special
WHY: representative for Venezuela, said Washington Deepening ties
The fuel supplies will help had warned foreign governments, seaports, The delivery is a sign of deepening ties between
the South American state shipping companies and insurers against con- Venezuela and Iran. Both countries are OPEC
compensate for the sorry tributing to trade between Tehran and Caracas. members that have fraught relations with the
state of its refining sector. If any of the parties that received these diplo- United States.
matic warnings, known as demarches, decide The government of Venezuelan President
WHAT NEXT: to aid the Iranian tanker flotilla, they could face Nicolas Maduro has flaunted the tankers’ arriv-
Iran and Venezuela will stiff US sanctions, he told Reuters. als to show it remains unbowed by pressure.
continue asserting their The US pressure campaign targeting Iran and Likewise, Kayhan, an ultra-hardline Iranian
right to trade with each Venezuela is being waged “to be sure everyone daily, recently described the arrival of the gas-
other. recognises this would be a very dangerous trans- oline tankers in Venezuela as “humiliation for
action to assist,” he added. America in the Caribbean.”
According to a source familiar with the mat- The newspaper also quoted Foad Izadi, a
ter, one of the parties that has received such a Tehran-based analyst and academic, as saying
warning was Gibraltar, situated right on the that Iran’s assistance for the fellow sanctions-hit
tankers’ route. Meanwhile, other US officials country marked a defeat for the US.

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 22 04•June•2020