May 01, 2024 | Claire Jungman and Daniel Roth
U.S. and European economic restrictions have been in place on Syria since 2011, including measures prohibiting most oil trade with Syria. Despite this, Syria has been a consistent top-five destination for U.S.-sanctioned Iranian oil since at least 2011. Some 8 percent of total Iranian oil exports end up in Syria—a lot of it forwarded to Hezbollah in Lebanon—facilitated by IRGC smuggling networks. Aside from the occasional seizure by naval forces, like in 2019, the West has turned a blind eye to the Tehran-Damascus sea-borne oil trade, where Syria’s main seaports at Latakia and Baniyas do brisk business. It’s yet another illustration of an Iran-sponsored activity—initially shocking but now routine, involving terrorist groups and their sponsors at every step of the way—that the world finds far easier to just ignore.
The logistical challenge of interdicting vessels or blocking sea-routes from the Persian Gulf to Syria’s Mediterranean ports would not appear particularly onerous. Tankers have two options only: via the Royal Navy-patrolled Straits of Gibraltar or through the Suez Canal. The latter has proven the better choice for Iranian oil-carriers, as Egyptian authorities are perfectly content to permit even U.S.-sanctioned vessels to pass. As one of the biggest economic victims of the Houthis’ paralysis of the Canal and the Red Sea, with revenue losses down 40% from the early part of 2024 compared to 2023, Cairo, at this moment, clearly has every financial incentive to look the other way. As always, the big beneficiary of this confluence of Western weakness and regional permissiveness is Iran.
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