Afghanistan Warns Fuel Tank Near ‘E’ As Iran Blocks Shipments At Border

Source: Associated Press

Iran's decision to stop up to 2,500 fuel trucks at its border with Afghanistan is tantamount to an “embargo,” an Afghan commerce official said Tuesday, as others warned the move could leave millions of Afghans shivering as winter rolls in.

The unofficial ban, now in its second week, has pushed up wholesale domestic fuel prices as much as 70 per cent. The shortage of fuel also threatens to stop trucks loaded with commercial goods from reaching the capital along a key southern transport route.

Iran on Tuesday acknowledged a link between the ban and its recent decision to slash domestic fuel subsidies in a bid to cut costs and boost an economy squeezed by international sanctions. Afghan officials say Iran has also told them it is concerned the shipments are destined for NATO forces operating in Afghanistan, though Afghan and NATO officials deny that.

Iran “wants to impose a kind of sanction or embargo on us,” Farid Shirzai, head of the Afghan Commerce Ministry's fuel department, told The Associated Press. “This is un-Islamic and against international transit law. They have no right to stop (the tankers) because they are merely passing through Iranian territory.”

Iran supplies about 30 per cent of the country's refined fuel, Afghan officials say. The remainder of the blocked shipments of vehicle and heating fuel comes from Iraq and Turkmenistan and is only transiting Iran, they say.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/afghanistan-warns-fuel-tank-near-e-as-iran-blocks-shipments-at-border/article1856749/

against claims of arms coming into Afghanistan from Iran. :shrug:

Which international transit law gives unconditional right of passage ?

And then sell it off the black market to its citizens. You know how the routine goes.

We're depending on the cooperation of Iran for our "War on Terror"?

not the US military.

But I could be mistaken.

I seriously doubt the president's predecessor negotiated some deal with Iran while they were rattling sabers at each other and we haven't heard aything from Obama by way of GOP protest.