US trying to disrupt trade relations between Iran, Venezuela: Mousavi

Rejecting the recent remarks of the US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams, Mousavi said that the remarks are baseless and aimed at putting more pressure on the Venezuelan government by the United States and disrupting trade relations between Iran and Venezuela.

The US government has failed to implement its policies in Venezuela, including economic sanctions, military threats and the recent formation of the Transitional Council, due to the resistance of the government and its people, he added, saying that the US is trying to prevent Venezuela to reconstruct the country’s refineries and produce petroleum products, including petrol which is currently in short supply due to US sanctions.

Elliott Abrams, the envoy who leads US efforts to topple Venezuela's leftist leader Nicolas Maduro, said that Iran has been sending "more and more planes" to the South American nation, including this week.

"Our guess is that they are being paid in gold," he said at the Hudson Institute, a conservative Washington think tank.

"Those planes that are coming in from Iran that are bringing things for the oil industry are returning with the payments for those things: gold."

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