https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-conducts-freedom-of-navigation-operation-off-venezuela-coast-2020-6
- A US Navy guided-missile destroyer conducted a freedom of navigation operation off of Venezuela on Tuesday, the second such operation this year.
- The operation comes amid broader tensions between the US and Venezuela, and as US military assets patrol the region and as Iranian tankers continue to arrive in Venezuela.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
The US military said Tuesday that a Navy guided-missile destroyer
sailed along the coast of Venezuela in what the command responsible for
the region called a "freedom of navigation operation."
US Southern Command said in a release
that the USS Nitze sailed in international waters outside
12-nautical-mile limit on territorial waters and "lawfully navigated an
area the illegitimate Maduro regime falsely claims to have control over,
a claim that is inconsistent with international law."
Asked about
the operation, a spokesman for the command said it was done "to
challenge Venezuela's excessive maritime claim of security jurisdiction
from 12 to 15 nautical miles along its coastline and prior permission
requirement for military operations within the Exclusive Economic Zone,
which are contrary to international law."
Exclusive economic zones
extend 200 nautical miles from a country's coast, and while that
country has rights to economic activities within that zone, ships from
other countries can sail through it.
The operation, the second of its kind this year, comes amid heightened tensions between the US and Venezuela.
The Trump administration has applied increasing pressure to the
government of President Nicolás Maduro, who the US and dozens of other
countries regard as illegitimate. The US has indicted Maduro and members
of his inner circle on drug-trafficking charges and sanctioned many in
the government, the military, and government assets.
US
efforts to isolate Venezuela's oil industry, on which the country is
reliant for income but has been undercut by mismanagement, have led
Maduro's government to turn to Iran, which has delivered refinery
materials as well as gasoline to ease supply shortages in Venezuela.
Several Iranian tankers have already traveled
to Venezuela. On Monday, the Iranian-flagged cargo ship Golsan arrived
at the port of La Guaira in Venezuela with what Iran's Embassy in
Caracas said was food for the country's first Iranian supermarket,
according to Reuters.
There was no indication that the Golsan and
Nitze encountered each other, but Washington and Tehran have traded
threats over the shipments. The US has said it is considering a response
to the tankers but has taken no military action, while Iranian
officials have said repeatedly they're ready to retaliate if the US acts against tankers heading to Venezuela.
The aid Iran has offered Venezuela, as well as ongoing support from Russia and China, has led to a growing view of Venezuela as a venue for great-power rivalry.
The latest Iranian shipment also comes amid an ongoing US
counter-drug operation in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Ocean, which
began in April and has seen a number of US naval and air assets
deployed to the region; US Army advisers have also deployed to neighboring Colombia.
The US Air Force said on Friday that it would temporarily deploy four aircraft
— two surveillance aircraft and two aerial refueling tankers — and 200
airmen to Curaçao to fly missions in support of those counter-drug
efforts.
The US government and the other mainly Western countries
that no longer recognize Maduro have instead recognized Juan Guaidó, an
opposition leader and head of Venezuela's national assembly, as interim
president.
But Guaidó has struggled to unite the opposition and to counter Maduro. In an interview on Sunday, Trump appeared to wavier
in his support for Guaidó and suggested he was open to meeting Maduro.
Hours later, Trump walked that back, saying he "would only meet with
Maduro to discuss one thing: a peaceful exit from power!"
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