Iran, Venezuela vow closer cooperation to thwart foreign pressures

The plans were discussed during a meeting between Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Caracas on Friday.

The meeting revolved around ways to implement memoranda of understanding and joint projects between Tehran and Caracas.

Maduro and Amir-Abdollahian also underlined the need to boost exchange of viewpoints between officials from the two countries.

Amir-Abdollhian described the Venezuelan president’s trip to Iran in mid-June last year as a turning point in mutual ties between the two countries, and called for closer cooperation.

Maduro, for his part, pointed to the extensive experience of Venezuela and Iran in the face of common challenges, and stressed the need for improvement of bilateral ties.

Earlier, the Iranian foreign minister met with his Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil Pinto and underlined the importance of enhancing mutual cooperation in all fields.

He stated that senior Iranian and Venezuelan authorities are determined to enhance cooperation and thwart cruel sanctions against their respective countries.

Amir-Abdollahian also highlighted the importance of accelerating the implementation of joint economic projects within the framework of the agreements reached between the two countries’ officials.

The chief Iranian diplomat also touched down on the Ukraine conflict, and criticized Western governments for the prolongation of the crisis and using human rights as an instrument to fulfill their political interests.

Describing Venezuela and Iran as two important partners in the international arena, Gil Pinto called for closer cooperation and expansion of relations between Tehran and Caracas in various fields.

Moreover, Amir-Abdollahian had separate meetings with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, Minister of Petroleum Tareck El Aissami, President of the National Assembly of Venezuela Jorge Rodríguez, where he called for closer political, parliamentary and energy cooperation between the two nations.

Both Iran and Venezuela, two petroleum-rich OPEC members, have found solidarity against shared common enemy the United States, which has subjected them to a regimen of economic sanctions for years.

While Venezuela is believed to have the world’s largest petroleum deposits, years of maintenance issues in the face of US sanctions have hampered its production.

Ties between the nations have strengthened under President Maduro amid Caracas’s efforts to pull the country’s economy back on track.