Wed Jul 31, 2013 13:16:14
Iran has reportedly agreed to supply Damascus with $3.6 billion in oil in exchange for the right to invest in the country.
"An agreement was signed (on Monday) in Tehran... by the Iranian and Syrian central banks, granting Syria a credit line worth $3.6 billion," Syria's state news agency SANA said on Tuesday.
The deal stipulates that Syria will pay back the cost of the oil loan "through Iranian investments of various kinds in Syria.”
It did not elaborate on what kind of investments Tehran would make.
Iran is the main regional backer of Syria, whose government has fought for more than 28 months to crush a bloody insurgency sponsored by certain regionals and western countries.
Oil production in Syria has crashed over the course of the country's unrest, which the United Nations says has killed more than 100,000 people.
Previously a small energy exporter, Syria is now forced to import oil and by-products, Oil Minister Sleiman Abbas said in May.
BA/BA
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