Despite US sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, an Iranian supertanker carrying more than 2 million barrels of condensate landed at a Venezuelan port.

According to analysts and satellite images examined by AP, the tanker, Starla, docked in the port of Barcelona, northeast of Venezuela in the first condensate cargo delivered as part of a partnership between the two countries whereby the South American country will swap its heavy oil for Iranian condensate, which it can use to improve the quality of its tar-like crude.

Iran maintains tight connections with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and has previously delivered gasoline and other products to the country.

The arrival of Starla comes as talks in Vienna continue regarding the Iranian nuclear agreement. It is the first known condensate shipment of 2022 to arrive in Venezuela. 

The ship is carrying 2.1 million barrels of a very light kind of oil that Venezuela's state-owned business uses to dilute its heavy crude oil into an exportable blend, according to Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com.

Madani stated that boats had transported condensate from Iran to Venezuela four times since 2020, bringing in about 8.3 million barrels.

Claire Jungman, head of staff for the New York-based group United Against Nuclear Iran, claimed that the organization observed an increase in what she called "clandestine" Iranian oil sales to China and Venezuela, which she described as countries "seeing how far they can push the Biden administration."

Apparently, it seems quite fair. Lebanon also received diesel tanker trucks from Iran in September, amid an increasingly difficult economic crisis, all in defiance of US sanctions against all the countries involved.