Reuters - Iran and Venezuela will not back down from countering American sanctions, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi wrote in a tweet.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Wednesday the sanctioning of five Iranian captains who delivered gasoline and its components to Venezuela.

�US desperate moves against Iranian individuals - like the one announced by @SecPompeo aka the #SecretaryofHate � just signal the miserable failure of the so-called �max pressure�. Despite US pressure, #Iran & #Venezuela remain steadfast in countering unlawful American sanctions,� Mousavi tweeted.

(Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; editing by Jonathan Oatis)