AN Iranian news agency close to the elite Revolutionary Guards said Saturday there would be repercussions if the United States acted “just like pirates” against an Iranian fuel shipment to Venezuela.

A senior official in U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration said Thursday the United States was considering measures it could take in response to Iran’s shipment of fuel to Venezuela.

The oil sectors of Iran and Venezuela, members of OPEC, are both under U.S. sanctions. The Trump administration official declined to specify the measures being weighed but said options would be presented to Trump.

“If the United States, just like pirates, intends to create insecurity on international waterways, it would be taking a dangerous risk and that will certainly not go without repercussion,” according to Iran’s media.

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

“Venezuela and Iran are both independent states that have had and will continue to have trade relations with each other,” Iranian Government spokesperson Ali Rabiei was quoted as saying by the Young Journalists Club (YJC) news website, linked to Iran’s state broadcaster.

“We sell goods and buy goods in return. This trade has nothing to do with anyone else. We have to sell our oil and we have ways to do it,” Rabiei said, adding that he had no information about the Venezuela-bound vessel.

Separately, a hard-line Iranian analyst suggested Iran may retaliate against U.S. vessels in the Gulf if the United States takes action against the Iranian tanker.

“Before coming to any decision, Trump should ask his friend British Prime Minister Boris Johnson about the details of the British tanker experience” Mahdi Mohammadi said on Twitter.

Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in the Gulf last year after British forces detained an Iranian tanker off the territory of Gibraltar. Both vessels were released after a month-long standoff.(SD-Agencies)