In open defiance of the US “maximum pressure” policy, a second Iranian tanker has arrived in the Venezuelan port of El Palito. The tanker Forest was second in a flotilla of five, carrying a total of 1.5 million barrels of gasoline and other petrochemical products to the Latin American nation grappling with hyperinflation. The United States had earlier announced it was considering measures to block the deal by the two nations that both suffer from severe American sanctions.
Escorted by the Venezuelan navy and air force, the first vessel, the Fortune, docked in the same port earlier this week. A third vessel is expected to reach Venezuelan shores May 27.