The US announced sanctions on five Iranian captains commanding ships to transfer 1.5 million barrels of gasoline to Venezuela.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on June 24 that Iranian oil tankers, which transferred 1.5 million barrels of gasoline to Venezuela in recent weeks, have been blacklisted by the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

"Captains who trade with Iran and Venezuela will face consequences from the United States," Pompeo said.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza later tweeted, calling the move "clear evidence of the Trump administration's hatred against Venezuela".

"US desperate moves against Iranian individuals only signal the catastrophic failure of the so-called" maximum pressure ", Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi posted on Twitter.

Caracas on Friday accused the US of "provocative action" when sending warships into Venezuelan waters a day earlier.

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Iranian media last month argued that the US had failed to stop the Fortune tanker from docking in Venezuela, calling it a "slap in the face of the Trump administration, as evidence of the policy of encircling Venezuela."

1.5 million barrels of gasoline were transferred to Venezuela by Iran during the time when the South American nation was faced with a crisis of fuel shortage and the Covid-19 pandemic.