28 May 2020; MEMO: The third Iranian oil tanker carrying gasoline and oil products arrived on Tuesday safely in Venezuela despite the United States’ threats to prevent the delivery.
Venezuela announced that Petunia entered its exclusive economic zone following the same route as the Fortune, which arrived earlier in the day, and the Forest, which was the first to arrive at the oil terminal.
Two more ships; the Faxon and Clavel are expected to arrive by 1 June.
The flotilla is transporting about 1.5 million barrels of fuel to oil-thirsty Venezuela.
Venezuelan Oil Minister, Tareck El Aissami, tweeted pictures of the Iranian-flagged tanker and the crew upon their arrival.
The US considers the Iranian oil shipments to Venezuela a violation of its sanctions which includes a ban on commercial transactions with the Venezuelan state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela’s (PDVSA).
Earlier this month, a senior US official told Reuters that the United States is considering responses to the shipment.
