In a statement released, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said “this new (American) action against multilateralism confirms that the ruling elite of the United States has no respect whatsoever for joint decisions necessary to preserve international peace and security”, Press TV reported on Tuesday.

On Monday, the administration of US President Donald Trump imposed a raft of new sanctions on the Iranian Defense Ministry and individuals with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, claiming it is enforcing a UN arms embargo on Tehran.

The latest sanctions target 27 Iranian entities and people in Iran’s nuclear, missile and conventional arms sectors.

Announcing the anti-Iran measures, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also declared sanctions on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of flouting the UN arms embargo on Iran.

Washington claimed Trump had issued the executive order with the authority of the UN since the US had declared Iran in breach of the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

This is while both UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the vast majority of the 15-strong UN Security Council have insisted that the US does not have the legal power to take those steps after it unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018.

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry further said “no intimidating and arrogant action by the US government will prevent it from exercising its sovereign right to establish economic and commercial relations freely with the Islamic Republic of Iran and with any state.”

It said the US sanctions against Maduro are “another attempt to ignore the institutionality of the United Nations,” particularly the Security Council.

“Venezuela rejects and condemns before the international community the new aggression by the US government, which has announced unilateral sanctions against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro without any grounds as part of an ongoing campaign of aggression against Iran, Venezuela and the entire UN multilateral system,” it said.

Anvar Kamrani said the two sides had discussed a main draft of the potential trade deal as well as issues related to the list of goods that would be subject to lower tariffs, Press TV wrote.

“It was agreed in this meeting that the lists proposed by the two sides be prepared based on national tariffs of the two countries and exchanged until October 13,” said Kamrani.

He added the trade deal could begin to be implemented once Iran and Malaysia agree on the preferential trade tariffs and the final list of the goods.

Iran has opted for an East-leaning trade policy in recent years as the country has faced growing economic pressure from Western countries.

That comes as unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States have caused a boom in Iran’s trade with countries in the region as well as those in Asia and South East Asia.

Iran signed an agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union last November to allow trade on lower tariffs. The deal has enabled Iran to significantly increase the value and volume of goods exported to countries like Russia.

Talks have been underway between Iran and countries like India and Pakistan for a PTA while search is going on for other avenues to ease Iran’s access to major markets around the world.

The Hindu said in a report that Iran is now going on with the construction of the Chabahar-Zahedan railway on its own, despite the fact that the project was supposed to benefit from India’s supply of investment and equipment, Press TV reported.

The report said recurrent delays by India in bringing in the required investment and the equipment needed to build the rail line finally caused Iran to drop the partnership.

Iran began track-laying for the 610-kilometer railway last week after authorities said they have the finances required to finish the project until the end of the current Iranian fiscal year in March 2021.

Iran has tapped into its sovereign wealth fund to draw more than €300 million for the project, according to statements by Iranian officials in the past.

India has been a major contributor to the plans to develop Chabahar, Iran’s sole ocean port on the Sea of Oman and where India seeks to build terminals and port installations to ease its trade access to Afghanistan and other landlocked countries in the Central Asia region.

New Delhi has been hesitant to become actively involved in the Chabahar-Zahedan project mainly because of the threat of US sanctions.

The report by Hindu newspaper reiterated that India has obtained the required waivers from US sanctions to contribute to the construction of the rail line.

However, it said that Indian Railways Construction Ltd. (IRCON) has failed to find equipment suppliers and partners who are not fearful of being targeted by US sanctions four years after it signed an agreement with Iran to become involved in the project.

Jalali said on Tuesday in a videoconference with EEU officials that the volume of trade between Iran and the EEU increased to 2.417 billion in the seven months after implementing the agreement, reported Fars News Agency.

Jalali said that 72 percent of the trade volume arises from the EEU’s exports to Iran.

Iran and the EEU started implementing the agreement on preferential trade on 862 products as of October 27, 2019.

“The mentioned agreement is the beginning of doing free trade and business with Eurasia; the preliminaries of free trade with the Eurasian zone are provided one year after the implementation of this trade agreement,”  the head of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI), Hamid Zadboum, told Fars News Agency.

The PTA agreement consists of 862 products, 360 of which have been exported by Iran to Eurasia, and 502 exported by Eurasia to Iran.