• U.S. Navy Ship Navigates Near Venezuelan Coast After Iranian Cargo Ship

    From JAT@21:1/5 to All on Tue Jun 23 16:59:13 2020
    XPost: alt.politics, soc.culture.usa

    CARACAS — A U.S. Navy ship navigated near the Venezuelan coast on
    Tuesday in what the U.S. military's Southern Command called a "freedom
    of navigation operation," a day after a cargo ship from U.S. foe Iran
    docked at a port of the South American country.

    In a post on its website, the Southern Command said the USS Nitze, a
    missile destroyer, sailed in an area outside Venezuela's territorial
    waters - which extend some 12 nautical miles from its coasts - but
    within an area the Venezuelan government "falsely claims to have control
    over."

    The move comes after the Trump administration in April said it was
    deploying more U.S. military assets to the Caribbean in part to disrupt
    alleged narcotics shipments by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a
    socialist viewed as illegitimate by the United States and dozens of
    other mostly Western countries.

    With U.S. sanctions on its key oil industry leaving Venezuela
    increasingly isolated, Maduro last month turned to Iran - another
    country under heavy U.S. sanctions - for fuel shipments. Washington said
    it was considering a response to those shipments but took no military
    action.

    On Monday, the Iranian-flagged cargo ship Golsan docked in the
    Venezuelan port of La Guaira carrying what Iran's Embassy in Caracas
    said was food to supply the South American nation's first Iranian
    supermarket. There was no indication that the Golsan and Nitze
    confronted each other.

    Neither Venezuela's information ministry nor its armed forces' press
    office immediately responded to requests for comment.

    Although President Donald Trump has insisted that all options are on the
    table to oust Maduro, U.S. officials have made clear there is little
    appetite for military force.

    (Reporting by Caracas newsroom; Writing by Luc Cohen; Editing by Leslie
    Adler)

    https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/06/23/world/americas/23reuters-usa-venezuela-military.html

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