Washington disrupts Tehran-Moscow network sending oil to Assad regime
JEDDAH: The US has moved to disrupt an Iranian-Russian network that it
said had sent millions of barrels of oil to Syria and hundreds of
millions of dollars to indirectly fund militant groups Hamas and
Hezbollah.
The complicated arrangement, described by the US Treasury in a statement
on Tuesday, involved a Syrian citizen allegedly using his Russia-based
company to ship Iranian oil to Syria with the aid of a Russian
state-owned company.
Syria then helped transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in cash to
Hezbollah, which functions as a political party that is part of the
Lebanese government and as a militia, as well as to Hamas, the
Palestinian group that rules the Gaza Strip.
The US authorities alleged that since 2014, vessels carrying Iranian oil
have switched off transponders to conceal deliveries to Syria.
Harvard scholar and Iranian affairs expert Majid Rafizadeh described the move as a step in the right direction.
“This move is the first correct step toward reducing Russia’s, and
specifically, Iran’s increasing influence in Syria,” he told Arab News.
“Tehran’s political opportunism in Syria is serving the Iranian regime
ideologically, economically, geopolitically and strategically.”
According to him, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is also
establishing a permanent military base in the south of Damascus and has
significant control over some Syrian airports.
“A multi-faceted strategy is required to lessen Iran’s military,
political and economic influence in Syria,” said Rafizadeh. “Governments
around the world must act now to reduce Iran’s influence across Syria
before it is too late.”
Russia will continue supplying oil to Syria in line with its agreement
with Damascus despite pressure from the US, said Oleg Morozov, a member
of the Russian Federation Council.
“The political defeat in Syria apparently prompts the United States to
return to the idea of regime change in Damascus. Therefore, economic
pressure through oil supply shutdown becomes a tool of the new economic
war with (Syrian President) Bashar Assad and indirectly with Moscow and
Iran,” he said.
“We have an agreement with Syria and therefore it’s up to us to decide
what we supply and to whom. This will be our answer, (it is) much more
effective than counter-sanctions,” he added.
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