Iran strengthened its cooperation with Venezuela: “We have common interests and enemies”

president of iran, Ibrahim RaisiThe two signed in Caracas various agreements with his Venezuelan counterpart. Nicolas MaduroIn order to strengthen cooperation against “common enemies”, according to what he said among them Two countries imposed by the United States.

In a statement with Maduro, Raisi said that the relationship between Iran and Venezuela is not an ordinary diplomatic relationship, but rather a strategic relationship between two countries with common interests, common visions, and common aggression. Bilateral trade annually stressed that the goal is to raise it, in principle, to 10,000 million US dollars.

We are friends in difficult times. He added, according to an interpreter at the Miraflores presidential palace in downtown Caracas.

The Iranian president, who did not explicitly mention the United States, He began his first visit to Latin America in Venezuela, during which he will also visit Cuba and Nicaraguaall countries that you consider “friends”.

“Iran plays a prominent role as one of the most important emerging powers in the new world,” Maduro said. “Together we will be invincible!” exclaimed the socialist leader with a picture in the background of the flags of Venezuela and Iran merging into one.

Maduro has pointed to the United States and has in particular criticized former President Donald Trump for a speech he made recently at a campaign event.

“When I left (from power), Venezuela was on the verge of collapse. We were going to take it and have all this oil,” Trump said. “Part confession, part relief,” Maduro replied.

Raisi and Maduro signed 25 agreements in various fields: petrochemicals, mining, health, and educationamong other things, without disclosing further details about these agreements.

“Our cooperation with these countries has developed over the past two years,” said Raisi, who will be elected in 2021, in Tehran, before starting his five-day tour of Latin America. “This trip could be a turning point.”

Iran is one of Maduro’s main international alliesBoth countries – members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – are subject to US financial sanctions aimed at hurting their economies.

In 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Iran sent 1.5 million barrels of gasoline and supplies to try to restart refineries in Venezuela amid severe fuel shortages.

Maduro received Iran’s chief of diplomacy, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in Caracas in February, and visited Tehran in June 2022 to sign a 20-year cooperation agreement to strengthen their “alliance”.

The last visit of an Iranian president to Cuba and Venezuela dates back to 2016. When Hassan Rouhani was there before he participated in the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He received his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in Nicaragua in January 2007.

Daniel Ortega, the president of Nicaragua, defended Iran’s right to have nuclear weapons in February.

With information from Agence France-Presse

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