Egypt to buy LNG from Tehran? An Iranian official said Egypt has agreed to buy Iranian LNG following “a permit issued by Egypt for Iran to transfer crude oil to European countries through SUMED pipeline,” Iran’s MEHR news agency reported. The deputy director of Iran’s Petrochemical Employers Association, identified by MEHR as Parviz Sahafzadeh, said “given the sanction removal and entry to post-sanction era, the grounds have been provided to expand trade volume between Iran and Egypt particularly in the field of petchem exports… A list of petrochemical items required by Egypt has been delivered to Iranian petrochemical companies.”

MEHR made a similar claim back in April about Iranian tankers having access to SUMED, but the Arab Petroleum Pipelines Co. (APPC) has consistently denied it has given the Iranians the green light. APPC, which runs the pipeline, is owned by EGPC and Saudi Aramco as well as state petroleum companies in Kuwait and Qatar. Saudi, in particular, is believed to object to Iran’s use of SUMED, the Financial Times has reported.

For context: MEHR is an arm of Iran’s propaganda machine, owned by the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization, which was set up by Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini in 1981. MEHR’s homepage is here.