Venezuelan workers welcome Iranian tanker

Authorities in Venezuela celebrated Monday as the first of five Iranian gasoline tankers arrived in the country, bringing badly-needed fuel supplies.

Workers at the El Palito refinery welcomed the docking of Iranian tanker Fortune.

Four more tankers are expected over the coming days.

The Iranian tankers hold what analysts estimate to be enough gasoline to supply Venezuela for two to three weeks.

Venezuela sits atop the world's largest oil reserves, but it has to import gasoline because production has crashed over the last two decades.

Critics blame corruption and mismanagement by the socialist government led by President Nicolas Maduro.

The fuel shipments are arriving in the face of stiff sanctions imposed by the United States on both Venezuela and Iran.

They mark a new era in the burgeoning relationship between the two countries, which are labelled by the US as repressive regimes.

Washington accuses Iran and other nations of propping up the Maduro regime.