Reports surfaced on Thursday that one of the Iranian tankers headed for Lebanon had reached Syrian waters; Here’s the truth behind this.
Claim: An Iranian tanker that is meant to deliver fuel to Lebanon reached Syrian waters a few days ago.
Verdict: The claim is false.
Context:
TankerTrackers, an independent online service that tracks shipments of crude oil via satellite imagery and other methods, denied the claim on Thursday.
Replying to a tweet linking to a report by the Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper, TankerTrackers said that the tanker that arrived in Syria a few days ago was carrying 730,000 barrels of Iranian crude oil.
“It is not gasoline. Deliveries of crude oil happen a few times a month for Syria’s needs and not that of Lebanon. The three tankers we are tracking are correct,” TankerTrackers wrote.
The service had provided some information about the Iranian tankers that are headed for Lebanon in a previous tweet on Wednesday.
As of the time of that tweet, the first tanker, which has already departed from Iran, had not reached the Suez Canal yet.
Regarding the second tanker, it had not yet left Iran but had departed from its port, whereas the third tanker was leaving the country at the time of the tweet.
As the first tanker made its way to Lebanon, the Lebanese Energy Ministry said on Wednesday that it had not received any requests to import fuel from Iran.
Over the past 37 months alone, TankerTrackers has successfully tracked 68 million barrels of Iranian crude oil to Syria. Iranian mariners reportedly regularly reach out to them from time to time to locate their colleagues since they can’t track them on the AIS map.