AN IRANIAN news agency close to the elite Revolutionary Guards has warned the US there will be repercussions if it acts "just like pirates" against Iran's fuel shipment to Venezuela.
By REBECCA PERRING
PUBLISHED: 16:40, Sat, May 16, 2020 | UPDATED: 17:39, Sat, May 16, 2020
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1283196/us-iran-war-world-war-3-venezuela-donald-trump-Hassan-Rouhani
Tensions have reached boiling point after a senior official in President Donald Trump's administration warned the US was considering measures it could take in response to Iran's shipment of fuel to crisis-stricken Venezuela. The oil sectors of Iran and Venezuela, members of OPEC, are both under US sanctions.
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The Trump administration official declined to specify the measures being weighed but said options would be presented to the president.
Hitting back at the US warning, Iran's Nour news agency said: "If the United States, just like pirates, intends to create insecurity on international waterways, it would be taking a dangerous risk and that will certainly not go without repercussion."
At least one tanker carrying fuel loaded at an Iranian port has set sail for Venezuela, according to vessel tracking data from Refinitiv Eikon on Wednesday, which could help ease an acute scarcity of gasoline in the South American country.
Iran's president Hassan Rouhani launched a blistering attack on the US and branded the Trump administration the "most evil" in history (Image: GETTY )
Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said: "Venezuela and Iran are both independent states that have had and will continue to have trade relations with each other.
"We sell goods and buy goods in return. This trade has nothing to do with anyone else," according to the YJC news website, linked to Iran's state broadcaster.
The Iran-flagged medium tanker Clavel passed the Suez Canal on Wednesday after loading fuel at the end of March at Iran's Bandar Abbas port, according to the data.
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Nour news agency said: "News received from informed sources indicate that the US Navy has sent four warships and a Boeing P-8 Poseidon from the VP-26 squadron to the Caribbean region."
Venezuela is in desperate need of gasoline and other refined fuel products to keep the country functioning amid an economic collapse under socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
Venezuela produces crude oil but its infrastructure has been crippled during the economic crisis.
A Venezuelan official said last month that Venezuela had received refining materials via plane from Iran to help it start a unit at the 310,000 barrel-per-day Cardon refinery, which is necessary to produce gasoline.