Venezuelan authorities celebrated Monday as the first of five Iranian tankers loaded with gasoline docked in the South American country, delivering badly needed fuel to the crisis-stricken nation that sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves.
The gasoline shipments are arriving in defiance of stiff sanctions by the Trump administration against both nations, and they mark a new era in the burgeoning relationship between Venezuela and Iran, which is expanding its footprint in the Western Hemisphere.
Despite Washington’s objections, the first ship arrived with no interference from U.S. ships patrolling the Caribbean on what officials call a drug interdiction mission.
Maduro on Sunday expressed gratitude to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. He said Iran and Venezuela have a right just like any other nation in the world to engage in trade.
We are “two rebel nations, two revolutionary nations that will never kneel down before U.S. imperialism,” Maduro said. “Venezuela has friends in this world and brave friends at that.”
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