“As global experience and contemporary political history have proved, the time for using military threats and pressure as a weapon against independent countries in order to force them to accept irrational and illegitimate demands is over,” Bahram Qassemi said on Sunday.
He strongly condemned the recent “provocative and meddlesome” remarks by US President Donald Trump about domestic developments in Venezuela and his suggestion of using the “military option” to resolve the country’s political crisis.
Speaking to reporters in New Jersey on Friday, Trump said all options remained on the table - including potential military intervention - regarding the unrest in Venezuela.
“We have many options for Venezuela and by the way, I’m not going to rule out a military option,” the US president said, adding, “A military operation is certainly something that we could pursue.”
Qassemi expressed Iran's opposition to any foreign intervention in Venezuela’s internal affairs and stressed the importance of respecting the sovereignty and independence of countries in line with international law.
Venezuela’s Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino later on Friday denounced Trump’s “crazy” threat of military action amid escalating bilateral tensions over what Caracas views as Washington’s meddling in the Latin American country’s political crisis.
“This is an act of craziness, an act of supreme extremism,” Padrino said in an interview with state television.