Despite sanctions, the Russian government has been finding ways to sell oil to a select few countries, countries that are unafraid of US repercussions. Now they are joining forces as allies of the Russian government and opening an oil refinery. On paper, the alliance consists of the governments of Iran, Syria, and Venezuela, with construction occurring in the former lawless region of Home, Syria.
Venezuela is acting as one of the few nations buying Russian oil exports, especially given their great need for fuel and poor economy. Iran is more than happy to support the Russians in their quest against Ukraine and, therefore, the US. Meanwhile, Syria will take any business it can gain, and that money would be incredibly useful to the Syrian Islamic rebel groups.
Announced by Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, they claim once up and running, it will process 140k barrels of crude per day. For Dictator Bashar Assad, this would represent a massive surge in production. According to “studies” done, the Homs area of Syria has an incredible thirst for fuel, and just not enough is being generated to meet the demand. Back in 2017, the Iranian Research Institute of the Petroleum Industry made a similar announcement, but the sanctions placed upon all three nations by President Trump prevented it from happening.
With Joe Biden retracting these restrictions, especially on Venezuela, they have had more than enough of an opening to make this dream of theirs finally happen. Given the situation of the Russians, this makes sense for all nations involved and completely undermines the efforts of the US, UK, and other allies. A deal like this simply means the funding for terrorism and illegal Russian war efforts now has more steps to become a reality but occurs with far less resistance.
