TEHRAN, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry on Friday dismissed U.S. allegation against trade ties between Tehran and Caracas as "baseless", state TV reported.
Such claims aim at creating obstacles in the way of the South American country's plans to restore its oil sector amid the U.S. sanctions, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi was quoted as saying.
Elliott Abrams, U.S. envoy in Venezuela affairs, on Thursday said that Venezuela is paying Iran in gold to rebuild its troubled oil industry.
Mousavi said such baseless claims aim to prepare the ground for the U.S. administration to exert more pressure on the Venezuelan government and to interfere in trade relations between Iran and Venezuela.
"The U.S. administration failed to implement its policies in Venezuela, including economic sanctions, military threat and recently the formation of a transitional council," he said.
Therefore, Washington "is now leveling such accusations in a bid to obstruct the Venezuelan government's plan to reconstruct the country's oil refineries and produce oil products such as petrol that is currently in short supply due to the cruel U.S. sanctions," Mousavi added. Enditem
