On Saturday, the Lebanese woke up to news about Iranian tankers in Lebanon, announced by the Iranian Embassy in Beirut. Here’s the truth.
Claim: Iranian oil tankers have docked in Beirut.
Verdict: False. The Lebanese Energy Ministry has denied it.
Context:
The Iranian Embassy in Beirut announced the news in a tweet on Saturday morning.
In the tweet, the Embassy revealed, “the arrival of Iranian oil tankers to Beirut, away from the trifles of the American ambassador.”
“The ambassador should not interfere in the fraternal relations between the two countries and the Iranian and Lebanese peoples,” it added.
However, shortly afterward, the Lebanese Energy Ministry denied to Al-Hadath the arrival of two oil tankers at the Port of Beirut.
The Ministry was quoted as saying that “no Iranian company has requested permission to enter oil ships.”
As of the time of writing, the Iranian Embassy has not made any further comments on the matter.
Notably, the Embassy’s comments about U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea came in response to the latter’s recent remarks in an interview with Al-Jadeed.
“Unloading Iranian oil at the Port of Beirut is not really a solution, and if you get rid of the rampant corruption in the energy and electricity sectors, you will solve half the problem immediately,” Shea had said on Friday.
