Why do Iran’s oil ‘intermediaries’ owe the government billions?
- As the United States maintains a naval blockade of Iran’s ports and imposes more sanctions on its oil exports, Tehran is confronting another problem: billions of dollars in revenue from previous oil sales that it says have gone missing.
- A spokesperson for Iran’s judiciary said in September that a network of oil intermediaries known as “trustees” owed the Iranian government between 10 billion euros ($11bn) and 11 billion euros ($12bn).
- That figure was equivalent to half of the total oil revenue projected in Iran’s government budget for the current fiscal year.
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- As the United States maintains a naval blockade of Iran’s ports and imposes more sanctions on its oil exports, Tehran is confronting another problem: billions of dollars in revenue from previous oil sales that it says have gone missing.
- A spokesperson for Iran’s judiciary said in September that a network of oil intermediaries known as “trustees” owed the Iranian government between 10 billion euros ($11bn) and 11 billion euros ($12bn).
- That figure was equivalent to half of the total oil revenue projected in Iran’s government budget for the current fiscal year.
Sources: Al Jazeera