Geagea: Sayyed Hassan's Promised Ship is a Silly Little Joke

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday ridiculed Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s declared plans for bringing fuel ships from Iran.

“As for Sayyed Hassan’s promised ship, it is nothing but a silly little joke amid the tragedy that we are living,” Geagea said in a statement.

“Why hasn’t the Iranian oil solved Assad’s problem? It is noteworthy in this regard to mention that Syria’s fuel crisis is what amplified Lebanon’s fuel crisis due to the ongoing systematic smuggling,” the LF leader noted.

“My suggestion to Sayyed Hassan is for Iran to solve Syria’s fuel problem, which would instantly resolve half of Lebanon’s problem,” Geagea went on to say.

Moreover, the LF leader stressed that the only solution to Lebanon’s fuel crisis would be to “liberalize the market” and that the only solution to Lebanon’s problem would be to “liberate the state from those who are currently in power.”

Nasrallah had on Sunday promised that deliveries of Iranian fuel would arrive "in the days to come" to help solve the beleaguered country's dire shortages.

For the second time in four days, Nasrallah said in a televised address that fuel shipments would leave the Islamic republic for Lebanon.

On Sunday alone, fuel prices soared by up to 70 percent after yet another subsidy cut, piling more pressure on people struggling to make ends meet.

The cost of hydrocarbons in Lebanon has now roughly tripled in the two months since the central bank started cutting its support for imports.

The latest cut, which is expected to cause knock-on price hikes on other key commodities, adds to the Mediterranean country's economic crisis, one of the world's worst since the 1850s.

Fuel shortages have forced businesses and government offices to close, even threatening blackouts at hospitals.

In his first televised address on Thursday, Nasrallah announced the departure "in the coming hours" of a shipload of fuel for Lebanon in defiance of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

On Sunday, Nasrallah said the first Iranian ship loaded with fuel was "at sea."

"A second ship will set sail in the next few days, and it will be followed by others," he said.

Hizbullah, a close ally of Iran designated as a "terrorist" group by much of the West, is a major political force in Lebanon but its leaders are under U.S. sanctions.

"We will continue this process as long as Lebanon needs it," Nasrallah said.

"The aim is to help all Lebanese, (not just) Hizbullah supporters or the Shiites," he added.

Questions remain over how Iranian shipments of fuel could reach their destination.

Since February this year, Iran and its arch-enemy Israel have been engaged in a "shadow war" in which vessels linked to each nation have come under attack in waters around the Gulf in tit-for-tat exchanges.