MNA US State Department on Thursday ordered nonessential staff at the US Embassy in Venezuela to leave the country, one day after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he was giving diplomats 72 hours to exit.
Earlier Thursday, Maduroorderedall Venezuelan diplomats home from the USand said it's closing its embassy. He said that if USofficials had any sense, they would pull out their own diplomats, rather than defyhis order.
Initially, USSecretary of State Mike Pompeo said that since Americadoesn't consider Maduro the legitimate leader of Venezuela; he claimed Preisdent Maduro doesn't "have the legal authority to break diplomatic relations with the United States or to declare our diplomats persona nongrata."
However, the State Departmentsaid that staff and diplomats who are not essential to operations will leave the country for security reasons. The embassy in Caracas will remain open, he claimed.
The move comes in the days after the Trump administration announced it recognizes Venezuela's opposition leader, Juan Gaido, as interim president.
In astatementon Thursday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi reacted to thepolitical developments in Venezuelaand the US overt and unlawful interventions in the countrys domestic affairs, saying the Islamic Republic of Iran supports the government and the nation of Venezuela in the face of any foreign intervention in the countrys internal affairs or any illegal or anti-popular actions, such as attempts to stage coups.
Cuba has also stronglycondemnedthe attempt to impose through a coup a puppet government at the service of the US in Venezuela and expressed its unwavering solidarity with the Government of the constitutional president Nicols Maduro.
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