Iran stated confronting Western imperialism was the principle message of the president’s tour.
TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has begun a visit to 3 South American international locations aimed toward strengthening political and financial ties with allies against Western domination.
The president will go away Tehran early Monday for a state go to to Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, that are additionally topic to U.S. sanctions.
Iranian state media stated the five-day tour would start with a go to to Venezuela. Raisi’s journey can be his thirteenth abroad journey within the 21 months since he took workplace.
The president can be accompanied by the ministers of international affairs, oil, protection and well being, in addition to his chief of employees and parliamentary secretary.
“The relationship between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the impartial international locations of Latin America is strategic. Our place and that of those three international locations is to oppose imperialism and unilateralism,” Raisi stated earlier than departing.
Of Raisi’s three locations, Iran has the closest ties to Venezuela.
The two international locations signed a 20-year cooperation plan to take bilateral relations to a “strategic” stage final yr when Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro visited Tehran and in addition met with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Over the previous three years, Iran has considerably elevated its vitality cooperation with Caracas, inter alia by supporting the restore and overhaul of Venezuelan refineries and transporting heavy crude oil to assist Venezuela’s growth of oil and gasoline manufacturing. It is carried out.
The two international locations additionally goal to strengthen cooperation in agriculture, science and expertise, transport, cars and tourism, whereas growing air hyperlinks and strengthening cultural ties.
Raisi’s go to comes per week after Maduro arrived in Saudi Arabia for a high-level go to as Riyadh rebuilds its alliance with out the blessing of its longtime ally the United States.
In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to revive diplomatic relations in a China-brokered deal, however this additionally paved the best way for Saudi Arabia to attract nearer to Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi motion and for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to return to the Arab League. It was opened.
The most notable current collaboration between Tehran and Cuba occurred when the 2 international locations cooperated in organizing one manufacturing line for Havana’s COVID-19 vaccine in Iran.
Last month, a Cuban delegation visited Tehran and signed 13 agreements, which Iranian officers stated included cooperation in biotechnology, drugs, commerce, banking, agriculture and sports activities.
Like Iran, Nicaragua has been more and more focused by U.S. and European sanctions because the authorities cracked down on protests in 2018, and Managua has been coddling Beijing by recognizing China’s rights to Taiwan.
According to the Iranian authorities’s state information company IRNA, Raisi goals to observe up on beforehand signed agreements and focus on the event of a brand new cooperation roadmap.
“The president’s selection of Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba as the primary stops on his Latin American tour is not any coincidence; within the transition to a multipolar period, these international locations are on the record of governments against U.S. hegemony. The incontrovertible fact that they’re lined up is appropriate. It’s essentially the most out.”
