According to Iran Daily, the United States has eased some sanctions against Venezuela's oil industry given the rising oil prices in recent months. For example, Washington has allowed Italy’s ENI and Spain’s Repsol to export Venezuelan oil to Europe. After two years of tough oil sanctions against Venezuela, even some American companies, including Chevron, have been allowed to cooperate with the Venezuelan oil industry. Some see Washington as a green light to the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, claiming that Maduro's recent visit to Tehran was to extort money from the Biden administration.

About whether this is true or not, in an interview with Iran Daily, Mohammad Sadegh Jokar, head of the Institute for International Energy Studies, said: "Venezuela knows that by doing so, Biden's administration is seeking to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian oil, as well as lower crude oil prices. Accordingly, it continues to pursue coalition policies."