US President Donald Trump said that India will buy oil from Venezuela instead of Iran, Reuters reported.
“We already made a deal, the concept of a deal“, Trump told reporters on the presidential plane "Air Force One" en route to Florida from Washington.
A day earlier, the United States told India that it could soon start buying oil from Venezuela, which would help it replace imports of Russian oil, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The US effort to supply Venezuelan oil to India comes as Washington seeks to reduce Russia's oil revenues, which it uses to finance its war in Ukraine, Reuters notes.
In March last year, Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on countries that buy Venezuelan oil, including India, the agency recalls.
Less than a month after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was captured in a special military operation in Caracas and taken to the United States to face trial on drug terrorism charges, Washington lifted sanctions that had hindered trade in Venezuelan oil.
Trump He also said on board the plane that China was also welcome to make a deal with the United States for Venezuelan oil supplies.
Meanwhile, the new head of the US diplomatic mission in Venezuela, Laura Dogue, arrived in Caracas, Agence France-Presse reported.
This is an important stage in the renewal of relations between the two countries, less than a month after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a US special operation to face trial in the US on charges of narco-terrorism.
Dogue arrived in Caracas from Bogota at around 19:00 GMT, a Venezuelan source told Agence France-Presse.
Dogue was appointed to the post on January 22 and will replace John McNamara, who held the same post but worked from Bogota since February 1, 2025.
US President Donald Trump has said several times that he works very well with Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, who was Maduro's vice president.
She has pledged cooperation with Washington by announcing a general amnesty, reforming oil laws and judicial reform, and closing Venezuela's notorious "Elicoid" prison.
Rodriguez has called for Maduro's release, but appears to have consolidated her power by appointing and removing key figures in the military and government.