In recent days, the port here has received large shipments of humanitarian aid in containers bearing the Qatari flag, although there has been no sign of arms shipments; parts of the port, however, are restricted to military only.
Some of those shipments were part of the same consignments found Wednesday.
As the graphic shows, with each new forecast IDC has chopped the expected total of PC shipments (the part of the column topped in red) more and more.
The United States and its allies now need to redouble their efforts to persuade Russia to withhold remaining fuel shipments as part of a new package of intensified pressures.
The shipments are part of a broad effort to alleviate the impact of the worst drought in the region of Catalonia in decades.
Before officials can say whether the gold shipments are part of an illicit financial scheme, though, they first have to figure out how much gold is going out — or, for that matter, coming in.
It now appears that the later shipments were part of an effort to sell Iran a more sophisticated type of centrifuge, called a P-2, which enriches uranium more efficiently than the first models sold to Tehran.
That could allow the ministry to retaliate if the Commerce Department imposed punitive tariffs on shipments as part of either its antidumping investigation, for which a decision is due by mid-March, or as part of the antisubsidy investigation, for which a decision is due by mid-May.
Panama's foreign minister, Fernando Nuñez Fabrega, says he believes the shipment was "part of a major deal" between the two countries.
Both the Palestinians and Iranians deny they are working together, but American and Israeli officials say they now see the shipment as part of a broader relationship.
