Iran ready to ship more fuel to Lebanon 'if needed'

Help at hand for Lebanon as severe shortage hampers daily life

Motorists crowd at a gas station trying to get fuel for their vehicles as supplies are rationed in Beirut.

An attendant counts Lebanese pounds next to a customer at a gas station in Beirut.

Motorbike drivers wait to get fuel at a gas station in Beirut.

Scooter motorists queue for fuel outside a petrol station in Lebanon's capital Beirut.

An aerial view shows vehicles queueing for fuel as traffic flows through on the Tripoli-Beirut highway in the coastal city of Qalamun in northern Lebanon.

Vehicles queue for fuel at a petrol station in Lebanon's capital Beirut.

Vehicles queue at a petrol station in the Balamand area on the coastal highway linking Lebanon's capital to the country's north.

Iran is ready to ship more fuel to Lebanon “if needed” to redress the shortages affecting much of the country’s infrastructure, a senior Iranian official said on Monday.

“We have a lot of oil and we sell our oil and we will sell our oil in the future to our friends and to whomever we want,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in his weekly press the daily briefing.

A few days earlier, the Iran-backed Hezbollah group leader Hassan Nasrallah announced that a shipment of diesel was on its way from Tehran to Lebanon.

The country is experiencing a severe fuel shortage that is causing long queues at petrol stations and power cuts for up to 22 hours a day.

“We cannot bear to see the pain of the people of Lebanon and we will send them fuel if it is needed,” Mr Khatibzadeh said.

He praised the “strength” of the Lebanese in enduring the economic crisis but said they were caught in a “political game".

Hezbollah's military arm and Iran are both on the US sanctions list, and those importing fuel from Tehran could also face sanctions.