Iranian president's tour: Iran and Venezuela "friends" against "common enemies"

June 12, 2023

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who arrived in Venezuela on Monday, the first leg of a mini-tour of Latin America, stressed that the two countries were “friends in difficult times” and had “common enemies” that he did not not cited.

“We have common visions, common enemies,” said Mr. Raïsi, elected in 2021, during a statement at the presidential palace in Caracas alongside Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

“Resisting in the face of the common enemy (…) for many years, we have maintained this friendship with the Venezuelan people (…) friends in difficult times (…)”, he added.

The two countries have announced that they have signed 25 cooperation agreements.

The Iranian president, who received the Order of the Liberator, the highest Venezuelan decoration, assured that he wanted to increase trade between the two countries from 3 billion dollars currently to 10 billion, then eventually to 20 billion dollars per year.

“Iran plays a leading role as one of the most important emerging powers in the new world,” said Venezuelan President Maduro, who notably criticized former US President Donald Trump.

“We are on the right side of history… Together (with Iran) we will be invincible,” he said.

Maduro clarified that he “always asks for more support from the Iranian president in order to develop powerful scientific and technological cooperation”.

Tehran is one of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s main international allies. The two countries, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), are subject to American sanctions intended to hamper their economies.

In 2020, Iran sent 1.5 million barrels of gasoline and supplies to try to revive Venezuelan refineries, then shut down amid massive shortages and a severe economic crisis. Washington has since accused Iran of circumventing the sanctions.

Mr. Raisi was then to go to Cuba and Nicaragua, other strategic allies opposed to the United States.

“This trip can be a turning point to improve the level of relations between us and the countries of Latin America”, declared before his departure for Tehran Mr. Raisi to the state press agency Irna. “Over the past two years, our cooperation with these countries (Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua) has grown (…) in the fields of industry, agriculture, science, technology and medicine”.

The last visit of an Iranian president to Cuba and Venezuela dates back to 2016, when Hassan Rouhani went there before participating in the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

In January 2007, his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was received in Nicaragua. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega defended Iran’s right to acquire nuclear weapons in February.