Iran denounces U.S. seeks to undermine Tehran-Caracas ties

Tehran condemned the U.S. “groundless accusations.” It is an attempt to undermine Iran-Venezuela ties, warned Tehran. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi responded on Friday to accusations made by US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams that Caracas is paying Tehran in gold for oil services. Abrams claimed that Iran had been sending planes with help to “restore” the Venezuelan oil industry, crippled by US sanctions, and that such planes “are returning with the payments in gold.” With these “baseless accusations,” denounced the Iranian spokesman, Washington seeks to prepare the ground for mounting pressure on the Venezuelan government, headed by Nicolás Maduro, and for disrupting and interfering in the trade ties between Tehran and Caracas. Mousavi warned the US is making such accusations to undermine Caracas’ efforts to revive the country’s oil industry and resume oil production, including gasoline. The Iranian spokesman celebrated the failure of Donald Trump’s administration to topple Maduro by fostering hostile policies such as economic sanctions, military threats and the creation of a “transitional government.” Recently, President Nicolás Maduro appointed his Vice-president of Economy Tareck El Aissami as his new Oil Minister in an effort to restructure Venezuela’s oil industry. The Venezuelan president is making efforts to overcome Venezuela’s gasoline as a consequence of US sanctions, which have been worsened since the coronavirus sanitary crisis started. Washington has sanctioned PDVSA, Venezuela’s state-run oil company, and it is putting pressure on international oil companies to make them break off negotiations with Venezuela. Iran and Venezuela, victims of US sanctions, have always cooperated to overcome US pressure. During a telephone conversation on April 13, Presidents Maduro and Hassan Rouhani agreed to strengthen cooperation and fight together the US “cruel sanctions.”