{"id":128291,"date":"2021-06-10T00:05:35","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T00:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=128291"},"modified":"2021-06-10T00:05:35","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T00:05:35","slug":"us-officials-work-to-stop-iranian-vessels-carrying-arms-to-venezuela-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/politics\/us-officials-work-to-stop-iranian-vessels-carrying-arms-to-venezuela-cuba\/","title":{"rendered":"US officials work to stop Iranian vessels carrying arms to Venezuela, Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Top officials in the Biden administration are working to stop two Iranian vessels headed for Venezuela and Cuba that are believed to be carrying arms, a report said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Senior officials are pushing Caracas and Havana through diplomatic channels to block the Iranian ships from docking, Politico first reported.<\/p>\n
Government officials in surrounding nations have also reportedly been contacted to help prevent the transfer of arms.<\/p>\n
Strict sanctions were placed on Venezuela and its oil industry under Donald Trump. <\/p>\n
President Biden has yet to reverse the economic restrictions — though White House officials suggested he may be willing to soften the sanctions if the Nicolas Maduro regime seeks a resolution of its conflict with the opposition party. <\/p>\n
But according to U.S. officials familiar with the discussions, the Venezuelan government is using the threat of an arms transfer to negotiate for sanction relief with the U.S., reported Politico.<\/p>\n
The White House and State Department did not immediately return Fox News’ questions on the situation.<\/p>\n
The U.S. seized oil from four Iranian tankers in August 2020 and has successfully disrupted oil deliveries over the last year by threatening increased sanctions.<\/p>\n
The sanctions on Venezuela have prevented the country from being able to access oil supplies and have left the country desperate for petroleum sources.<\/p>\n
Some Democrats on the Hill have pushed the Biden administration to lift these sanctions, arguing they are furthering human rights crises in the region. <\/p>\n
Iran \u2013 which has also been at loggerheads with the U.S. over Trump-era sanctions \u2013 has continued to allow their vessels to progress towards Venezuela.<\/p>\n
One of the ships, the Makran, is believed to be carrying fast-attack boats that could then be sold to Venezuela. <\/p>\n
The Pentagon did not answer Fox News’ questions but instead pointed to a statement issued last week by Pentagon press secretary John Kirby that said any delivery of weapons “would be a provocative act and a threat to our partners in this hemisphere.”<\/p>\n
“As such, we would reserve the right to take appropriate measures \u2013 in concert with our partners \u2013 to deter the delivery or transit of such weapons,” he added. <\/p>\n
U.S. officials have monitored the ships in recent weeks, but Kirby refused to comment on their progression in a press conference last week, telling reporters, “I’m not going to talk about intelligence matters.”<\/p>\n
“I don’t even speak to future operations for U.S. Navy ships, I’m certainly not going to make a practice of speaking for future operations of a foreign Navy,” he added. <\/p>\n