The world is watching as Iran seized a British oil tanker today. This, following on the heals of Iran shooting down a US drone and the US following suit by downing an Iranian drone.
Well, here is a piece of news that helps explain what is really happening….
Two Iranian ships are stranded in Brazil because Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras refuses to sell them the fuel needed to return to Iran due to sanctions imposed against Iran by the United States.
Reuters explained on Friday that the cargo ships Bavand and Termeh arrived in Brazil a few months ago to deliver a shipment of petrochemical fertilizer and pick up loads of corn.
The Bavand was loaded up with 50,000 tons of corn and the Termeh is supposed to take on another 66,000 tons.
Carrying food back to Iran is legal under U.S. sanctions and Iran buys a great deal of corn from Brazil, but unfortunately for the Iranian captains, the Petrobras subsidiary that sells maritime fuel in Brazilian ports cited the U.S. sanctions and refused to refuel the ships. The Iranian government might need to send a tanker loaded with fuel all the way to Brazil to get the cargo vessels and their loads of corn.
Reuters explained that, unlike most ships employed in Iran’s agricultural trade with Brazil, the Bavand and Termeh are both flying Iranian flags. Iranian-flagged vessels usually arrive in Brazil with enough fuel to make it home, but that evidently was not the case with these two ships.
Petrobras stated that both Iranian ships appear by name on a list of sanctioned vessels, so refueling them could “have consequences for the oil company,” as Radio Farda put it. Petrobras is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and has operations in the United States, making it vulnerable to secondary sanctions.
https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2019/07/19/iranian-ships-stranded-brazil-without-fuel/
Meanwhile….
Inflation runs rampant in Tehran as Iran’s government struggles to stem rising food prices
- Tehran faces rising food prices and food shortages.
- Iran’s government is running out of options to help stem the costs.
- A local cook estimates prices have increased by 50% to 100% in the last year.
- The cost of beef has gone from 380,000 rials a kilo three months ago to nearly 1.2 million rials per kilo, pricing out many families.
As U.S. sanctions on Iran extend into a second year, Iranian citizens are paying the price with skyrocketing costs and food shortages.
Jafar Ghaffari, a cook in Tehran, is one of the many Iranians struggling to keep up with the rising cost of food. He says prices have increased by 50% to 100% in the last year.
Ghaffari says his weekly shopping trip, which cost him 7 million rials [$50] just three months ago, now costs him 14 million rials ($100) a week, nearly half the average Iranian’s salary.
Now…..get this…..
Unable to realize the economic benefits of the nuclear deal, Iran is facing high inflation, a devalued currency and an economy that the International Monetary Fund predicts will shrink by 6% this year.
The Iranian government has found its hands tied as prices on foods climb higher, pricing out the population, whose average monthly salary of 32 million rials equals only $220.
In 2018, the rial lost nearly 60% of its value. With less buying power (the exchange rate for the dollar on the free market is 145,000 rials), Iranians are finding they can’t stretch their paychecks anymore.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/17/inflation-rampant-in-tehran-as-iran-struggles-to-stem-rising-food-prices.html
Did you get all that?
The rial is collapsing, inflation is spiraling out of control, sanctions prevent Iran’s from selling oil (and now even buying fuel for it’s cargo ships loaded with food), and the cost of food inside Iran is getting so bad that…
Factories that make baking essentials have run out of raw ingredients and some have either stopped manufacturing altogether or sell products at an inflated price off the books. The government has tried to step in and force manufacturers to sell, but there is little upside for those factories to pay workers and sell goods below their cost. It’s cheaper to shutter their doors.
Don’t forget, the Iranian gov’t…it’s regime…is unpopular inside Iran. And now this.
PDJT has put the mullah’s controlling Iran into an impossible economic situation. Inflation is spiraling out of control with the gov’t UNABLE to do anything to curb it, and it’s people are now starting to go hungry.
And here is the kicker…
Iranians blame the(ir) government…
POTUS is holding the mullah’s balls in vice they can not wiggle out or away from.
#WINNING
