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Iran Says ‘All Options’ on Table if US Hinders Fuel Shipments to Venezuela

The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower conducts a combined air wing operation with a B-52 Bomber from US Air Forces Central Command in the Arabian Sea, March 18, 2020. (Central Command)
The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower conducts a combined air wing operation with a B-52 Bomber from US Air Forces Central Command in the Arabian Sea, March 18, 2020. (Central Command)
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Iran Says ‘All Options’ on Table if US Hinders Fuel Shipments to Venezuela

The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower conducts a combined air wing operation with a B-52 Bomber from US Air Forces Central Command in the Arabian Sea, March 18, 2020. (Central Command)
The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower conducts a combined air wing operation with a B-52 Bomber from US Air Forces Central Command in the Arabian Sea, March 18, 2020. (Central Command)

The Iranian government announced that all options are available in response to any American move against its five oil tankers bound to Venezuela to transport fuel, in defiance of US sanctions.

For the second time in a week, government spokesman Ali Rabiei stated Iran’s desire to continue exporting oil to Venezuela and establishing trade relations with Caracas, which is under US sanctions.

“No country is required to comply with the United States’ unilateral sanctions,” he stressed.

In response to a question on Iran’s possible response to US threats to prevent oil exports from Iran to Venezuela, the official said his country wants to be assured of the absence of US “piracy”.

He expressed hope that the international community would take a step in this regard.

“We hope that America does not make such a mistake … If they take any action, we reserve the right to respond and will respond accordingly,” Rabiei noted.

At least one tanker carrying fuel loaded at an Iranian port has set sail for Venezuela, according to vessel tracking data from Refinitiv Eikon last week, which could help ease an acute scarcity of gasoline in the South American country.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi warned Monday that that the US will receive a “serious response” from Iran if it carries out any action against its oil tankers.

“I hope that the Americans will not do anything stupid, because that will face a serious response from Iran,” the semi-official ISNA news agency quoted him as saying.

“The activities of these ships are completely official and legal. In fact, this is being done within the framework of free trade, and there is no legal obstacle to doing this legitimate trade.”

He described threats by US officials as “shameless,” stressing that “any US response against the legal navigation of our ships will be met with a decisive response, and America shall bear its repercussions.”

Iran complained to the United Nations on Sunday and summoned the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, who represents US interests in the country, over possible measures Washington could take against the fuel shipment to Venezuela.

A senior official in President Donald Trump’s administration told Reuters on Thursday Washington was considering measures it could take in response to Iran.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi passed on a message to the ambassador warning against any US threat against the tankers, according to a report on the foreign ministry website.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also wrote a letter to UN chief Antonio Guterres warning that any American measures against the shipment would be dangerous, illegal and a form of piracy, the report added.

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Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
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Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)

Türkiye on Thursday insisted the PKK and all groups allied with it must disarm and disband "immediately", a week after a historic call by the Kurdish militant group's jailed founder.

"The PKK and all groups affiliated with it must end all terrorist activities, dissolve and immediately and unconditionally lay down their weapons," a Turkish defense ministry source said.

The remarks made clear the demand referred to all manifestations of Abdullah Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has led a four-decade insurgency against the Turkish state, costing tens of thousands of lives.

Although the insurgency targeted Türkiye, the PKK's leadership is based in the mountains of northern Iraq and its fighters are also part of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a key force in northeastern Syria.

Last week, Ocalan made a historic call urging the PKK to dissolve and his fighters to disarm, with the group on Saturday accepting his call and declaring a ceasefire.

The same day, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that if the promises were not kept, Turkish forces would continue their anti-PKK operations.

"If the promises given are not kept and an attempt is made to delay... or deceive... we will continue our ongoing operations... until we eliminate the last terrorist," he said.

- Resonance in Syria, Iraq -

Since 2016, Türkiye has carried out three major military operations in northern Syria targeting PKK militants, which it sees as a strategic threat along its southern border.

Ankara has made clear it wants to see all PKK fighters disarmed wherever they are -- notably those in the US-backed SDF, which it sees as part of the PKK.

The SDF -- the bulk of which is made up of the Kurdish YPG -- spearheaded the fight that ousted ISIS extremists from Syria in 2019, and is seen by much of the West as crucial to preventing an extremist resurgence.

Last week, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi welcomed Ocalan's call for the PKK to lay down its weapons but said it "does not concern our forces" in northeastern Syria.

But Türkiye disagrees.

Since the toppling of Syria's Bashar al-Assad in December, Ankara has threatened military action unless YPG militants are expelled, deeming them to be a regional security problem.

"Our fundamental approach is that all terrorist organizations should disarm and be dissolved in Iraq and Syria, whether they are called the PKK, the YPG or the SDF," Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan's ruling AKP, said on Monday.

Ocalan's call also affects Iraq, with the PKK leadership holed up in the mountainous north where Turkish forces have staged multiple air strikes in recent years.

Turkish forces have also established numerous bases there, souring Ankara's relationship with Baghdad.

"We don't want either the PKK or the Turkish army on our land... Iraq wants everyone to withdraw," Iraq's national security adviser Qassem al-Araji told AFP.

"Turkish forces are (in Iraq) because of the PKK's presence," he said, while pointing out that Türkiye had "said more than once that it has no territorial ambitions in Iraq".