Iran Did Not Send Fuel to Lebanon
The Claim
Iran sent Lebanon oil tankers amid a worsening energy and currency crisis.
News posted on
Emerging story
In late June 2021, social media users claimed that Iran sent Lebanon fuel amidst their fuel shortage crisis.
Misbar’s Analysis
MENA: The Misbar team found the claim to be fake. Our investigation revealed that the source of the claim, which is the tweet by the Iranian Embassy in Lebanon, is not an announcement of the arrival of oil tankers. Rather, it was posted in response to Dorothy Shea's statements on the U.S. envoy in Lebanon. Shea said in a local television channel, Al-Jadeed TV, that importing fuel oil from Iran “is not a practical solution.” She added, “what Iran is looking for is a sort of dependent state that it can use to carry out its agenda. There are much better solutions than turning to Iran.”
While Lebanese political party Hezbollah did say that they are “working in the background to implement a plan to buy oil from Tehran and pay for it in Lebanese pounds,” this was merely a proposal. Lebanese authorities reject the suggestion that the country is planning to import oil from Iran.
Furthermore, The National News Agency said that the Lebanese Energy Ministry clarified in a statement that it "has not received any request for a permit from any official or private body, to import oil from Iran," confirming that no fuel was received from Iran.
A reverse image search of the most common image on the claim reveals that while the oil tanker is Iranian, the picture was not taken in 2021.
Further investigations revealed that the original image was taken by Alf van Beemof. It depicts the Iranian vessel Iran Dena approaching Port of Rotterdam in Holland on December 15, 2007; it is in no way related to Lebanon.
Given the findings, the Misbar team confirms the claim is fake; Iran did not send Lebanon fuel.
