By AP
July 31, 2020 "Information
Clearing House" - NEW YORK (AP) — U.S.
officials frowned upon the opening of an Iranian
supermarket in Venezuela's capital, saying Thursday that
any presence of Iran in the Western Hemisphere is "not
something we look very favorably on.”
Acting Assistant Secretary for U.S. Department of
State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Michael
Kozak told journalists in a call that the opening of the
market shows this is like an alliance of “pariah”
states.
“I would be surely surprised if Venezuela is able to
obtain much benefit from Iran,” said Kozak in his
response to a reporter's question about the supermarket.
“Iran is willing to play around, is willing to sell
stuff to Venezuela when Venezuela really does not have
the money to be buying very much.”
An Iranian cargo ship docked in Venezuela in June
carrying food for the new market in Caracas, weeks after
the Islamic Republic had already sent five tankers
loaded with gasoline to the fuel-starved nation. The
recent deliveries signal a newly blossoming relationship
between the two nations in defiance of stiff financial
sanctions by the Trump administration against each of
them.
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The new Megasis supermarket, in the east of Caracas,
was launched Wednesday amid a tightening of the
coronavirus quarantine. The inauguration was a private
event attended only by Venezuelan government officials,
Iranian diplomatic personnel and businessmen, according
to images a journalist for the Telesur television
channel posted on her Twitter account.
The supermarket is expected to open to the public
this week.
Kozak described Iran on Thursday as “the world's
biggest sponsor on terrorism.”
“Iran is not going to save Venezuela from the
situation it has put itself in, but it does put itself
in a more dangerous situation by playing these games,”
he said.
Megasis is headed by Iranian businessman Issa Rezaei,
who runs a chain of 700 supermarkets in Iran.
On Tuesday, Rezaei said on Twitter that “our goal is
commercial.” He also said he is buying Venezuelan
products like mangos, pineapples and wood to take to
Iran.
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, and
critics of President Nicolás Maduro point to the
nation’s reliance on Iran for gasoline as an example of
the socialist government’s failure.
The U.S. seeks to oust Maduro, backing his political
rival Juan Guaidó.
Maduro blames many of the problems on U.S. sanctions
and other measures to undermine his rule. He says the
U.S. wants to install a puppet government so it can
exploit Venezuela’s vast resources.
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views expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Information Clearing House.
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The
views expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Information Clearing House.
