Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government has declared the EU's ambassador in Caracas "persona non grata" on Wednesday and has given her 72 hours to get out of the country, dpa reported.

Venezuela's National Assembly called on Tuesday for the government to expel the European Union's ambassador to Caracas, in response to new EU sanctions against 19 Venezuelan officials, AFP reported.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Monday claimed a sweeping victory in parliamentary elections that were boycotted by a weakened opposition, news wires reported.

Venezuelans on Sunday choose a new congress in an election that the opposition is boycotting and most Western nations call a fraud by President Nicolas Maduro to retake the last state institution not in the hands of the ruling Socialist Party.

The EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned on Tuesday the expulsion of the EU's ambassador from Caracas, DPA reported. The move taken by the Venezuelan president was in response to sanctions issued against individuals from the South American country. On Monday, the European Council added 11 Venezuelans to the sanctions list for "undermining democracy and rule of law." The sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes.

Sources at Venezuela's embassy in Rome on Monday told ANSA that a report in Spanish daily ABC that Venezuela funded Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) in 2010 was all false.The embassy sources said the report was "false and absurd" adding that the Venezuelan authorities would take legal action. The sources added that the movement was "totally unknown in Venezuela" in 2010. The M5S was founded in 2009.

Oil tankers that were sailing toward Venezuela have turned around and others have left the country’s waters as the United States considers blacklisting dozens of ships for transporting Venezuelan oil, according to shipping data and industry sources.

The first of five Iranian tankers carrying fuel to Venezuela has moored at Venezuela's El Palito refinery, Iran's English-language Press TV reported on Monday.

Venezuela said its navy and air force would escort Iranian tankers, after Tehran warned of "consequences" if the US tried to stop the ships from reaching their destination, news wires reported. "We're ready for whatever, whenever," President Nicolas Maduro told state-run media on Wednesday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres late on Sunday warning about possible attempts by the US to “disrupt” the movement of the Iranian tankers carrying fuel to Venezuela, Tehran Times reported. Zarif warns that such a move will be “illegal”, “dangerous”, “provocative”, “instance of piracy” and a “great danger to international peace and security”.