The United States has sought to prevent this immediately after the start of the process of importing fuel from Iran to Lebanon, while blocking all the options available to Lebanon to resolve the electricity and fuel crisis.
Just hours after Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah’s speech at Husseini’s Ashura ceremony and his remarks about the launch of a fuel-carrying ship from Iran to Lebanon to save the Lebanese people from the suffocating siege Imposed by the United States and the West, the Lebanese Presidential Office announced that, the US ambassador to Beirut, Dorothy Xia, told Lebanese officials that the US government had decided to import electricity from Jordan to Lebanon.
In this regard, the United States has also claimed that Jordan imports gas from Egypt to generate more electricity to connect it to the power grid between Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, as well as to facilitate the transfer of Egyptian gas through Jordan and Syria to northern Lebanon.
Many experts hail the US decision and the ambassador’s moves in Beirut as a predictable move after announcing the start of fuel imports from Iran to Lebanon and the rise of Hezbollah among the Lebanese people, who are suffering from crises such as water, electricity and fuel.
For years, the United States had barred Lebanon from transferring gas through Syria under the pretext of sanctions against Syria, but today it has entered the field as a mediator in resolving the Lebanese energy crisis. But why did these mediations not exist before the words of Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah?
In addition, Dorothy Xia told Lebanese President Michel Aoun that negotiations are under way with the World Bank to finance the transfer of gas from Egypt to Lebanon. But what does this mean? This means that Lebanon is drowning in a swamp of more debts based on the rent-seeking economy that has plunged Lebanon into crisis for decades.
Of course, this hasty behavior of the Americans does not need much explanation, and the reason is quite clear. The Americans have gone mad at the news of the departure of a fuel tanker from Iran to Lebanon, which destroys the arrogance of the West in Lebanon, and they have made every effort to disrupt Iran’s historic initiative to resolve the Lebanese fuel crisis. Nevertheless, the United States is still not pursuing a lucrative initiative for the Lebanese, and is considering a plan to make Lebanon more indebted by taking large loans from global institutions. Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic of Iran has proposed exporting fuel to Lebanon in the national currency of this country.
In fact, the United States is trying to present itself as the savior of the Lebanese, while it is trying to carry out another economic aggression and tighten the siege of Lebanon.
In this regard, Dr. Emad Akoush, a Lebanese economist, said about the suspicious movements of the US ambassador in Beirut in the current period that Lebanon signed an agreement to buy gas from Egypt years ago but unfortunately, the case became politically complicated, and at that time the government of Saad Hariri refused to pay the desired amount for the purchase of gas, which became an excuse for Egypt to cancel the contract.
The Lebanese economist added that the agreement to buy gas from Egypt was unilaterally canceled, which caused a lot of damage to Lebanon.
Regarding the obstacles to the success of the gas purchase agreement from Egypt, he noted that the issue of gas pipelines in Syria was disrupted due to US sanctions against Syria under Caesar’s law. Negotiations with the Damascus government were to be held for the transfer of gas through Syria to Lebanon, but US sanctions prevented cooperation between Lebanon and Syria, and in fact the United States vetoed the transfer of gas through the Syrian pipeline to Lebanon.
Emad Akoush went on to say about the sudden change in the US position and Dorothy Xia’s remarks about allowing Lebanon to use these pipelines that, the US ambassador went further and spoke about the import of electricity from Jordan; While the Americans themselves had previously prevented Lebanon from using these options.
He added that the US government had blocked all Lebanese progress options for resolving the energy crisis and was now trying to persuade Lebanon to borrow from the World Bank.
But the point for Lebanese to pay attention to is that while we can get Iranian fuel at the Lebanese lira, what is the reason for borrowing from the World Bank and paying the extra costs?
It is clear that what the United States is currently pursuing is to plunge Lebanon into more debt and the custody of global institutions. In this situation, Lebanon should only take out foreign loans if it wants to use these funds to increase production and productivity for all people; because in fact, it is the people who have to pay these loans and debts.
The Lebanese economist went on to say that fuel imports from Iran have very positive effects on the situation in Lebanon from various national, political and economic aspects. The first effect is seen in the Americans’ concern and the country’s rush to exempt Lebanon from many of the sanctions contained in Caesar’s law, and we saw how quickly Washington mediated with Egypt to supply Lebanese gas. This effect is also visible in Lebanon; where many gas stations resumed operations after a few days of closure.