“The ceremony to unveil the oceangoing oil tanker developed by the Iranian experts was a goodbye party for the gambler Trump to make enemies understand that we have been able to unveil and launch the second giant oceangoing oil tanker despite all sanctions with the help of the Iranian experts at Sadra company,” Saeed Mohammad, the head of IRGC-controlled engineering company Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, told reporters at the ceremony to launch the oil tanker in southern Iran on Tuesday.

The IRGC, including its Al Quds Force, was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States last year.

IRGC-affiliated Sadra Company has built the oceangoing oil tanker, an Aframax vessel able to transport up to 750,000 barrels of oil, Mohammad said, as carried by the Fars News Agency.

The oil tanker has been built for delivery to a foreign customer, the official added. The new tanker is the second that IRGC-affiliated firms have built, and the two tankers have earned Iran almost US$146 million (120 million euro) in hard currency revenue, he said.

The official also went on to brag that Iran is capable of building its own tankers without the help of foreign companies.

“We have grown self-sufficient in all sections of the marine industry as a result of efforts of the young Iranian specialists, and today, we do not need foreign states for building any type of ship,” Fars quoted Mohammad as saying.

Earlier this year, the IRGC opened a new naval base in a coastal town along the world’s most important oil chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz, a theater of frequent incidents and frictions between Iran and the United States.

The post Iran Unveils Own Oil Tanker In “Goodbye Party” For Trump appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post Oil Tanker Caught in Flames in East Coast of Sri Lanka appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post Iran Oil Tanker Hit by US Sanctions Back appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post Third fuel tanker reaches Venezuela appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post Venezuela appreciates Iran for shipments of fuel, refinery parts appeared first on Iran News Daily.

“If our oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea or anywhere else in the world get into trouble caused by the Americans, they (US) will run into trouble reciprocally,” the Iranian president said in a telephone conversation with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Saturday.

He also underlined that Iran will never start a conflict. “Considering a series of measures, the US has created unacceptable conditions in various parts of the world, however, we will never start tensions and clashes.”

“We always preserve the legitimate right of defense of sovereignty and territorial integrity and fulfillment of the national interests, and we hope the Americans would not make a mistake,” the Iranian president added.

Stressing the need for collective cooperation among nations amid the critical situation in the world in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak, Rouhani bemoaned the fact the US government is proceeding with “incorrect decisions and inhumane behavior.”

He also reiterated that regional security, particularly the maritime security, should be ensured by the regional countries alone. “We have always expressed readiness for closer cooperation with the neighboring states, and reassert this view today.”

Rouhani further highlighted the need to promote the economic and trade ties between Tehran and Doha, saying, “Despite the conditions of the outbreak of the coronavirus, the economic relations between the two countries must restart within the framework of the health and cautionary protocols.”

He further expressed hope that Iran and Qatar would immediately hold a new session of the Economic Cooperation Joint Commission to expedite the mutual interaction, remove the obstacle to bilateral trade, resume the trade exchanges via the ports and restart the direct flights.

The president also offered Iran’s help to Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, saying Tehran could assist Doha with the infrastructures and supplying the demands in the sports event.

He also congratulated the Qatari government and nation on the festive occasion of Eid al-Fitr, hoping for the expansion of bilateral ties in all fields.

For his part, the Qatari Emir said enhancement of economic interaction with Iran is high on the list of Qatar’s priorities, and expressed hope that the Economic Cooperation Joint Commission meetings could broaden the economic and trade ties between the two Muslim nations.

Qatar maintains that regional security should be ensured through cooperation among all regional countries, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said, calling for closer regional interaction for the security of maritime routes in the region.

“We are opposed to any tension and will do our utmost to reduce the tensions,” the Emir of Qatar added.

The post Rouhani Warns US Not to Interrupt Tankers en route to Venezuela appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Iran is supplying about 1.53 million barrels of gasoline and alkylate to Venezuela, according to both governments, sources and calculations made by TankerTrackers.com based on the vessels’ draft levels.

Washington is considering measures in response, according to a senior US official, who did not elaborate on any options being weighed.

The US recently beefed up its naval presence in the Caribbean for what it said was an expanded anti-drug operation. But a Pentagon spokesman, Jonathan Hoffman, said on Thursday he was not aware of any operations related to the Iranian cargoes.

“We have continued to say that Iran and Venezuela – both two outliers in the international order – (are) clearly violating international sanctions on both nations with this transaction,” he told reporters.

Venezuela’s defense minister said its military will escort the Iranian tankers once they reach the nation’s exclusive economic zone.

Iran-flagged tanker Fortune, the first in the flotilla, was approaching the Caribbean Sea on Friday. It has been navigating with its satellite signal since it passed the Suez Canal earlier in May. The four other vessels are following the same route across the Atlantic Ocean, the Eikon data showed, Reuters reported.

The OPEC-member country desperately needs fuel for up to 1,800 gasoline stations that have been partially closed for weeks due to insufficient supply from state-run PDVSA’s refineries, which until March worked at about 10 percent of their joint capacity of 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd).

PDVSA’s gasoline output is now limited to a single facility, the Amuay refinery, but most fuel produced is low octane as most of the country’s alkylation units are out of service, according to company sources. Imported alkylate could improve the quality of domestic gasoline.

PDVSA did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Venezuela was consuming 170,000 bpd of gasoline before coronavirus-related lockdown measures. Fuel sales at stations declined to about 40,000 bpd due to rationing, according to analysts.

Over a decade of mismanagement and lack of staff – combined with US sanctions that since 2019 have limited imports – have left Venezuela’s refineries in poor condition. Shipments of equipment in flights by Iran’s Mahan Air have arrived in Venezuela in recent weeks to start repair work.

The US Department of the Treasury this week blacklisted the Chinese firm that provided the refinery parts. Beijing called the sanctions “illegal”.

US West Texas Intermediate crude fell 67 cents on Friday to settle at $33.25 a barrel, paring about half earlier losses of more than five percent. Global benchmark Brent settled at $35.13, down 93 cents on the day.

The post Fuel Tankers to Venezuela to Arrive Sunday appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post Tanker carrying Iranian fuel passes through Gibraltar appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Reports on Wednesday suggested that the tanker caught fire some 40 kilometers off the coast of Sharjah, a port in the UAE. Preliminary investigations indicate the fire broke out aboard the vessel as a result of an accident during a maintenance-related operation.

They said that the heavy load vessel, Norwegian ship MV Osprey, was manned when it caught fire around 4 pm local time. The number of crew was not known.

Sources told The National, an Emirati news website, that the UAE coast guard had assisted with the operation to put out the blaze and all the crew has been rescued.

The Associated Press cited US officials as saying that they were aware of the incident in the Persian Gulf, a region which has been the scene of rising tensions between Iran and the United States since Washington withdrew from an international deal on Iran’s nuclear program in 2018.

British officials also issued a warning to ships sailing in the region. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said that it had received an email suggesting that there was a fire on board a tanker northwest of the UAE, adding that ships should “exercise extreme caution”.

“This Advisory is not classified as a Maritime Security Event and has not been verified by UKMTO,” the report added.

The incident is the third of its kind involving boats traveling off the UAE coast in the past two weeks. On Sunday, a yacht caught fire in Dubai Marina and on January 17, a boat erupted in flames off Burj Al Arab after the vessel’s engine failed and some leaked fuel ignited.

Tensions are heightened in the region, especially after the United States assassinated a senior Iranian military commander in Iraq, prompting Tehran to hit back with firing more than a dozen missiles at US military bases in Iraq.

The blaze occurred about a year after the US and other Western governments blamed Iran for attacks on tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf or others sailing in the Sea of Oman.

Tehran has denied any involvement in last year incidents but authorities have suggested that it could close the strait — through which a third of global seaborne oil passes — if its interests are harmed by others.

The post Norwegian MV Osprey on fire off UAE coast appeared first on Iran News Daily.

A senior Iranian parliamentarian said the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia were behind a recent attack on an Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea, adding that the gathered evidence on the attack is planned to be sent to the United Nations.

Speaking to the Persian-language Mehr news agency, Abolfazl Hassanbeigi, a member of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said, “A film shot by cameras installed on the tanker shows that the attack was carried out by the US, the Zionist regime and Al Saud.”

“Certainly, the sinister triangle (the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia) were trying to show that they can hit the Islamic Republic,” he added.

“There is a lot of evidence about the involvement of some governments in the attack on the Iranian oil tanker, which will be presented to the United Nations and the UN Security Council,” the MP stated.

Definitely, the countries that had a role in the attack should pay the cost of their action, he went on to say.

The Iranian oil tanker Sabiti was hit by two suspected rockets on Friday off the coast of Saudi Arabia. It was 60 miles (97km) from the Saudi port city of Jeddah when the incident took place.

On Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran has found clues as to what happened recently to the oil tanker off the coast of Saudi Arabia, adding that the clues have been shared with Pakistan.

“It is an absolute mistake for a country to think that it could create insecurity in the region without receiving a response,” Rouhani warned.

In comments on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also said Tehran has gained information confirming that the attack on Sabiti was carried out by a state or a number of states.

“The attack on the Iranian oil tanker has been a complicated measure… and was a state-sponsored action,” Zarif said.

Friday’s incident came against the backdrop of increased tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia after attacks by Yemeni forces on the kingdom’s oil facilities, with Washington and Riyadh claiming Iran was behind them.

The Yemeni Houthi Ansarullah movement immediately took credit for the attacks, but US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo swiftly accused Iran of being behind the assault, without providing any evidence. Tehran categorically rejected the allegations.

The post Iran to Send Evidence on Oil Tanker Attack to UN appeared first on Iran News Daily.