TEHRAN, Nov. 30 — Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on Sunday slammed U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement that the airspace around Venezuela should be considered closed.
The move is a blatant violation of international norms and fundamental rules of international law, including those governing international air transport, Baghaei said in a statement.
It is part of Washington’s ongoing “provocative and unlawful actions” against Venezuela’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said, denouncing the move as an “arbitrary act and an unprecedented threat” to the safety and security of international aviation.
Trump said on Saturday that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered closed “in its entirety.” “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social without elaboration.
Since early September, the United States has carried out more than 20 known military strikes on alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing more than 80 people.
The U.S. military presence in the Caribbean was further strengthened in mid-November with the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford, a major aircraft carrier, to a level unseen in at least three decades.
In his Thanksgiving remarks to U.S. troops on Thursday night, Trump suggested that the United States could “very soon” take action by land against drug trafficking networks in Venezuela, which he claims to have links to the Venezuelan government.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has denied any involvement in drug trafficking, accusing the United States of “fabricating” a pretext for forcing regime change in Venezuela. (Namibia Daily News/Xinhua)
