5 Iran tankers sail to Venezuela amid pressure tactics from US

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Five Iranian tankers likely carrying at least $45.5 million worth of gasoline and similar products are sailing to Venezuela, part of a wider deal between the two U.S.-sanctioned nations amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington.

The tankers’ voyage come after Venezuela’s socialist leader Nicolás Maduro turned to Iran for help in flying in chemicals needed at an aging refinery amid a gasoline shortage, a symptom of the wider economic and political chaos gripping Latin America’s one-time top oil producer.

For Iran, the tankers represent a way to bring money into its cash-starved Shiite theocracy and put its pressure on the U.S., which under President Donald Trump has pursued maximalist campaigns against both nations.

But the strategy invites a possible renewed confrontation between the Islamic Republic and America in the Persian Gulf, which saw a series of escalating incidents often involving the oil industry last year, and elsewhere.

“This is like a new one for everyone,” said Capt.

Ranjith Raja, an analyst who tracks oil shipments by sea at the data firm Refinitiv, of the gasoline shipments. “We haven’t seen anything like this before.”

All the vessels belong to Iranian state-owned or state-linked companies, flying under the Iranian flag. Since a pressure campaign began, notably with the temporary seizure of an Iranian tanker last year by Gibraltar, the country’s ships have been unable to fly flags of convenience of other nations, a common international shipping practice.