TEHRAN – Venezuela’s envoy to the UN Jorge Valero has said that Iran and Venezuela will continue fighting U.S. President Donald Trump’s hostile policies.

“The people of Iran and Venezuela are two brotherly nations and will continue their war against Trump’s hostile policies,” ISNA quoted him as saying on Tuesday in an interview with Al Mayadeen TV channel.

Valero also praised Iran’s humanitarian aid to Venezuela.

Five Iranian oil tankers by the names of Petunia, Forest, Faxon, Clavel, and Fortune carried fuel to Venezuela despite the United States’ sanctions. The last of them entered Venezuelan waters on June 1.

The tankers carried 1,520,000 barrels of gasoline and diesel fuel to Venezuela. There was also a team of Iranian engineers and specialists from the oil industry on board heading for the country.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has praised the crew of the Iranian tankers that shipped fuel to Venezuela.

“You did a great job. Your move was jihadi. You brought glory to the country,” the Leader said in a message published on Monday.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said that Russia, China, Iran, and Cuba are real friends of Venezuela as they provide all-round help to Caracas.

“Humanitarian aid is coming from China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba. They are [Venezuela’s] true friends,” TASS quoted him as saying in a speech broadcast by the state TV on Sunday.

Conn Hallinan, a columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus, has said that arrival of Iranian fuel tankers in Venezuelan waters was a crack in wall of the United States’ illegal sanctions against Caracas.

This action is a step in reducing “pressure” on Venezuela, Hallinan said, adding the Venezuelan people were in dire need of fuel.

This shipment brought revenue for Iran and from this point of view it was “a crack in wall of the United States’ illegal sanctions,” he told IRNA in an interview published on June 1.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has also said that arrival of Iranian oil tankers in Venezuela breaks the United States’ “unacceptable” and criminal blockade”.

Carlos Antonio Alcala Cordones, the Venezuelan ambassador to Iran, told the Tehran Times in an interview that Iran has demonstrated its “geopolitical power” and its ability to defy U.S. hegemony by sending fuel tankers to blockaded Venezuela.

“Success in delivery of the fuel shows Iran’s geopolitical power which challenges the United States’ hegemony and shows the capability to create solidarity in the international energy market,” the Venezuelan envoy said.

Iranian Ambassador to Venezuela Hojat Soltani has also said that the United States’ unilateral sanctions have lost their efficiency.

“The United States’ unilateral sanctions against Venezuela, Iran and a number of other countries have lost efficiency,” IRNA quoted him as saying in an interview with the Al-Alam news network.

He also said that arrival of Iranian oil tankers in the Venezuelan waters was an “international victory”.

Ronnie Lipschutz, a professor at the University of California, has said that Iran and Venezuela are independent countries and that Tehran has right to ship fuel to Venezuela.

The two countries have the right to send and receive fuel and the only way for the United States to prevent shipments is to directly intervene by using its Navy which will be considered an act of war, Lipschutz told ILNA in an interview published on Saturday.

However, the professor said, U.S. President Donald Trump is not willing to take such a risk.

NA/PA