Hezbollah Wants US Sanctions Waiver To Import Iranian Fuel
Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah repeated calls Monday for the cabinet to seek a US sanctions waiver to import Iranian fuel amid crippling shortages.
Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah repeated calls Monday for the cabinet to seek a US sanctions waiver to import Iranian fuel amid crippling shortages.
Nasrallah said the total blackout that occurred on Saturday when Lebanon's two largest power plants ground to a halt was like a "clinical death" for the country.
The Iran-backed Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah group has been coordinating Iranian shipments of fuel oil and gasoline for Lebanon since August as shortages spread amid an economic meltdown, despite U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil sales.
However, so far it is not clear if Hezbollah delivered any fuel to the country’s power stations or how the fuel was used.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said the Iranian shipments constitute a breach of his country's sovereignty.
Iran sends the fuel oil shipments organized by Hezbollah to the port of Baniyas in Syria and from there they are transported by truck to Lebanon.
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, on a visit to Beirut last week, said his country was ready to build two power plants in Lebanon, one in Beirut and the other in the south of the country, in a period of 18 months. The offer is more of a publicity stunt as Iran itself is gripped by power shortages unable to meet demand.
On Monday Nasrallah urged the cabinet to respond to his offer.
Even with the 73 seats claimed by a Sadr spokesman would leave him a minority in the 329-strong parliament with the likelihood of weeks if not months of horse-trading before a prime minister and government are appointed.
While not running for parliament, former intelligence chief Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has been expected to seek a second term in the post he assumed in May 2020 as a consensus figure least antagonistic to other leaders.
In a reflection of Iran’s influence in its neighbor, Iraq’s Shafaq daily Monday quoted a government source that General Esmail Ghaani, commander of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) extra-territorial al-Quds group, had met officials and leaders in Baghdad within 24 hours of polls closing to discuss next steps.
The election turnout was put at just 41 percent of 25 million voters by the country’s electoral commission, the lowest of any parliamentary election since the United-States-led 2003 invasion overthrew Saddam Hussein.
Response to protests
The election was called in belated response to the ‘Tishreen’ (October) protests in 2019, in which 600 people were killed, but few expect the poll, contested by over 100 parties and blocs, to lead to the significant changes protestors demanded.
Hopes that independents might jolt the grip of the party machines – or even reduce corruption and tackle power cuts and a decayed infrastructure – appear to have floundered. Anecdotally many young people, who led the protests, didn’t vote.
Iraq’s government, well used since the US-led 2003 invasion to mediating between Iran and US, has in recent months brokered talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia. These efforts are likely to continue, even if slowed by any transition in Baghdad.
The Shia-dominated groups have both close ties to Tehran and working relationships with Washington, which has around 2,500 troops in the country and is pledged to restrict them to an advisory role by year end. All parties and groups pledge reform.
Alliances linked to Tehran
The State of Law coalition, formed in 2009, includes eight parties. The largest, Dawa party, is led by Nouri al-Maliki, who stepped down as prime minister in 2014.
The rival National Wisdom movement, formed this year, is led by former prime minister Haidar al-Abadi and Shia cleric Ammar al-Hakim.
The Aqed al-Watani bridges the Sunni-Shia divide, including the Iraqi Islamic Party, a long-established Sunni group, and Falih al-Fayyadh, leader of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the state-cum-independent militias links to Iran’s IRGC.
The Fatih alliance, also includes PMF figures, like Hadi al-Amiri, who heads the Badr Organization, a group originally armed by Iran in the 1980sand 90s that has evolved into a political party.
There are two mainly Sunni groupings – the Taqadum alliance and the Azm alliance. In the Kurdish provinces, most support will as usual go to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
Of 329 seats, 237 are elected in Iraq’s 18 provinces, with 83 reserved for women and nine for religious minorities. Parliament in turn elects the president and prime minister.
A nationwide poll by the al-Rafidain Center for Dialogue, taken between September 25 and October 5, found a level of support for the Sadr movement that would have given it around 47 seats, fewer than it won in 2018 when in alliance with the Communist Party and smaller groups.
The poll found 42 percent of respondents thought the election was transparent while 42 percent lacked any trust in it. But 70 percent said they did not expect candidates to deliver on any promises, with the highest confidence in Anbar and Erbil provinces, strongholds respectively of Sunni Arab parties and the KDP.
Some environmental activists have claimed the airport's tower is now leaning "like the tower of Pisa," which inclines 10 degrees. In fact, the tower has reportedly tilted 3 degrees, hardly noticeable by the naked eye or in photos.
There are photos on social media of cracks in the ground around the airport, and of hollows in and around Esfahan’s historical buildings and monuments.
Environmental activists have also in a letter to the Deputy Prosecutor-General Reza Khoshnudi demanded the prosecution of those responsible for what they call an “environmental disaster” befalling the city and its residents
Director-General of the Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration of sfahan Province, Reza Eslami, on Monday told the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) that surveys were underway to assess structures at the airport including gas and fuel pipes and declined to offer immediate comment on the tower.
Eslami said expedient measures were urgently needed, and that if water extraction continued at the same volume land subsistence would affect airports, power plants, and refineries. "There will be no Esfahan in such circumstances," he suggested.
Land subsidence is not limited to Esfahan and its surrounding plain. In many other areas in Iran cracks and huge hollows that resemble meteor craters have appeared in the ground in recent years. Ali Saberi, a geologist told local media that one million hectares of land in the country is affected by subsidence and the main cause is unlimited extraction of ground water.
Land subsidence − which can occur for many reasons including human activities like mining, extracting underground water, petroleum, or gas − is a growing problem in many other places including Mexico City where a growing population of 10 million has resulted in the exhaustion of underground water resources.
The problem of land subsidence in Esfahan has been exacerbated by recurrent droughts in recent decades and the use of underground water and rivers by agriculture and industries. Esfahan's famous Zayandeh Rud, the largest river in central Iran, has for years run dry most of the year. Farmers in Esfahan province have protested they are not receiving a due share of the river's waters, which is being used by other provinces.
Some blame the water situation on an emphasis in achieving self-sufficiency in agriculture, including water-intensive crops such as rice and other grains, which was the aim of many governments even before United States ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in 2000 and 2001, promoted an increase in population and self-sufficiency in wheat and rice as the main goal of agriculture.
