The Forest, one of three Iranian oil tankers in a flotilla delivering hundreds of thousands of barrels of fuel to Venezuela, entered Venezuelan waters on its way to the El Palito refinery port. The other two oil tankers, the Faxon and the Fortune, appeared set to arrive in Venezuela in several days. General Yahya Rahim-Safavi, a military advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, claimed that Venezuela had repaid Iran by sending gold bars by plane.