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Australia cites 2020 invasive search incident as reason for blocking Qatar Airways expansion: Australian Transport Minister Catherine King says that invasive body searches of five Australian women at Hamad International Airport in 2020 was one of the factors behind the decision to block Qatar Airways from selling more flights to Australia this year, denying that the move was due to pressure from rival Qantas Airways, Reuters reports.
What happened? The Australian Labor government has faced criticism for alleged favoritism toward Qantas, which has actively opposed Qatar Airways' request to increase its flights to the country. The opposing conservative party has accused the Labor government of stifling competition to support Qantas and has initiated a Senate inquiry to investigate this decision. King dismissed claims from antitrust regulator the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that increasing Qatar Airways flights would put downward pressure on international fares as “nonsense.”
The flight cap means l ess Australian meat for the Middle East: The decision to block more flights from the airline has also impacted farmers in Australia looking to expand their exports of fresh boxed meat to the Middle Eastern market, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The industry reportedly relies on cargo hold space on passenger planes to transport premium chilled meat into the Middle East, and the ramifications of this decision is now finding farmers “jostling to get whatever space we can,” Founder of Fletcher International Exports Roger Fletcher is quoted as saying by the outlet.
The US seized some 1 mn barrels of Iranian crude oil on the basis that it was being smuggled to China in violation of sanctions, the New York Times reports, citing newly unsealed court documents. The tanker, Suez Rajan, was brought to American waters after the US threatened prosecution, according to the documents, which also reveal an elaborate oil smuggling operation to evade sanctions. The seizure was part of a larger US shadow conflict with Iran, which saw Iran's Revolutionary Guard seizing two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year after Suez Rajan began making its way to the US. The US military recently increased security measures in the Strait to protect shipping lanes in response to the seizures.
