BEIRUT (Dispatches) -- Lebanon is preparing to send a delegation to Iran for talks on acquiring free fuel to ease power outages without being exposed to U.S. sanctions, two government sources said on Wednesday.

If the deal goes through, the fuel deliveries would be Iran’s first directly to the state after it previously sent some to Lebanon.

Iran’s ambassador in Beirut, Mojtaba Amani, has proposed an Iranian “gift” of fuel to the Lebanese state, the two government sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

“We are working on this being a donation and not a 

purchase so that we can avoid sanctions,” one of the sources said.
The second government source said Amani had extended the offer from Iran to Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who provided the envoy with the specifications of fuel grade that would be needed to run Lebanese power plants. “Based on that, Mikati asked Energy Minister Walid Fayad to prepare a technical delegation to discuss the technical details with officials in Tehran,” the source said.
The first source said the delegation would be in Tehran in the coming days. Reuters quoted what it called an Iranian official as saying that a delegation from Lebanon would be in Tehran shortly “to discuss various issues,” without elaborating. “We have repeatedly expressed Iran’s readiness to help Lebanon resolve its fuel crisis,” the official said, Reuters claimed.
Last year, Iran sent fuel to Lebanon. That fuel was shipped to Syria and then brought into Lebanon in trucks to try and avoid sanctions.
The head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, has repeatedly urged Lebanon’s government to turn to Iran for fuel to ease its energy crisis.