Iran condemns US sanctions against 5 oil tanker captains

TEHRAN -- Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned fresh US sanctions against the captains of five Iranian oil tankers who carried fuel to Venezuela recently, semiofficial Fars news agency reported.

Such embargoes prove the “failure” of US administration’s “maximum pressure campaign” against the Islamic republic, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said. The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on five Iranian ship captains who had delivered oil to Venezuela. “As a result of today’s sanctions, these captains’ assets will be blocked. Their careers and prospects will suffer from this designation,” the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday. He warned any mariners against doing business with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Mousavi described the sanctions as another “desperate” move by the US against Iranian individuals, and a sign of the “miserable failure” of the Trump administration’s pressure policy. “Despite the US. pressure, Iran and Venezuela remain steadfast in countering unlawful American sanctions,” Mousavi stressed.

(Xinhua)