Tehran, IRNA- Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian president's deputy chief of staff for political affairs, has said the Islamic Republic of Iran has helped foil an “imperialist plot” by the United States to steal Venezuelan oil.

Former US president Donald “Trump admitted ambitions to steal Venezuelan oil, but the resilient Venezuelan nation defeated this imperialist plot,” Jamshidi wrote in a tweet on Tuesday.

He added that “Iran has opened an office for innovation & technology in Venezuela to help consolidate this victory with mutual benefit.”

“A Big difference between Iran & the US,” he noted.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is in Venezuela on the first leg of a regional tour that will also take him to Nicaragua and Cuba.

Raisi was officially welcomed on Monday by his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas.

**2050