Iran Press/America: Although Venezuela government repeatedly condemned US interference in Caracas internal affairs to run a coup against President Nicolas Maduro in favor of opposition leader Juan Guaido, and international community also asked Washington to stop its interference in crisis hit country, US National Security Adviser John Bolton says Iran is working to expand its influence in Venezuela in a bid to get access to the country's vast uranium deposits.
Along with Iran, Bolton accused other countries, including Cuba, Russia and China of operating in the Latin American country for uranium, indicating that these countries' efforts pose a threat to US interests, Sputnik news reported.
"Venezuela has the largest reserves of uranium in the world, maybe second to Canada. It makes it a prime target for Iran, which is operating in Venezuela today," Bolton said at an event in Washington organized by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
Iran and multiple other nations condemned US interference in Venezuela's affairs amid the bid by opposition leader Juan Guaido to proclaim himself the country's 'interim president' in January to remove the government of President Nicolas Maduro. Caracas has called Guaido's actions a Western-backed coup plot.
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Iran has repeatedly criticized US policy in Venezuela, and said US is behind unrests in Caracas to seize its vast oil reserves.
Meanwhile Bolton says that "I don't think we've paid enough attention to what happened in the past ten years in Latin America. It's time we reverse that."
At the event, Bolton said US would continue to escalate its pressure on Iran.
Venezuela like Iran has been faced with tough energy sanction. US also seized Caracas assets abroad.
Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, Turkey, Nicaragua, Serbia, Syria and several dozen other countries condemned the coup plot, and urged outside powers not to meddle in Venezuela's affairs.
The US unilaterally pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 and reintroduced sanctions against the country's energy and banking sectors.
Last month, Tehran said it might pull out of the landmark treaty unless its other signatories found a way to bypass US restrictions.
Iran calls US economic sanction a economic terrorism against Iranian Nation. 213/205
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