Radio Farda:

Government controlled Syrian newspaper Al-Watan has disclosed in an April 17 article that the serious shortage of fuel Syria is facing is the outcome of Iran halting a credit line to Syria since October 15, 2018 under pressure from U.S. sanctions.

Al-Watan also added in this "unprecedented disclosure" that no oil tanker has reached Syrian ports during the past six months.Previously, other reports has mentioned Egypt being responsible for not allowing Iranian tankers to pass through the Suez Canal to reach Syria.

Referring to long lines of cars outside Syrian gas stations during the past week, Al-Watan pointed out that Syria needs 4.5 million litters (1.2 million gallons) of gasoline and 6 million litters (1.6 million gallons) of diesel every day and the government needs an estimated 8 million dollars every daily to provide fuel.

It is not clear what "credit line" from Iran exactly means. If Iran was providing such an amount of oil for free, it would mean that Tehran spent much more money in Syria in the past several years than it has ever admitted.

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