Excluded from the Summit of the Americas, Maduro signs a 20-year cooperation plan with Iran

The Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and his hardline Iranian counterpart signed a 20-year cooperation agreement on Saturday, a day after Maduro praised the Islamic Republic for sending much-needed fuel to his nation despite US sanctions.

In an interview with Ripe Following his arrival in Iran for his two-day visit, Iranian state media reported Friday night that the Venezuelan leader praised Iran’s decision to send tankers to the fuel-starved South American nation.

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“We received the delivery of the Yoraco tanker… with a capacity of 800 thousand barrels”, highlighted the Venezuelan president. “I am more than grateful for the construction of this modern vessel that reflects the industrial capacity of the sister nation of Iran.”

The first visit of Ripe to Iran occurs amid tensions throughout the Middle East over the failure of the nuclear pact between the Iranian government and world powers. US sanctions and rising global food prices are stifling Iran’s ailing economy and increasing pressure on its government and population.

A high-level political and economic delegation from Venezuela, which like Iran is subject to heavy sanctions from Washington, accompanies Ripe during his visit, after the invitation of the new president of the Islamic Republic, the conservative Ebrahim Raisi.

At a joint press conference on Saturday, Raisi and Ripe they signed a 20-year agreement to expand ties in various areas.

“We have managed to articulate our forces in an amazing map of cooperation, at the energy, financial, petrochemical and defense levels,” Maduro tweeted.

Before the press conference, Iran’s English-language broadcaster PressTV quoted Ripe saying that both leaders would meet on Saturday to analyze the need to inform both nations about the sanctions and to find ways to counteract them.

Ripe He stressed that both nations are united by a common vision regarding international issues and that both are victims of the coercive measures of the United States and its allies.

“I am sure that an indestructible friendship will be consolidated between our peoples, we will witness how our countries grow in difficulties,” he said Ripe On twitter.

On his website, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said the successful experience of the two countries showed that the only way to deal with US pressure and war is “resistance and persistence.” He thanked Ripe and to the people of Venezuela for their resistance and affirmed that “today, the United States sees Venezuela differently.”

Ripe toured Eurasia after US President Joe Biden decided not to invite him to the Summit of the Americas, which started on Thursday. The scales of Ripe during this week they included Algeria and Turkey.

Turkey is one of the few countries, including Russia and Iran, where Ripe is well received amid US sanctions against Venezuela.

The Biden administration excluded from the summit to Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua for authoritarianism and human rights violations in those countries. Due to that decision, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that he would not attend the meeting.

Raisi praised Ripe as a ruler “who has shown a policy of fighting against imperialism and has achieved a good position overcoming sanctions and threats.”

Ripe announced that a direct flight between Tehran and Caracas will begin next month.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported after Iran had handed over to Venezuelan authorities the Aframax-2 oil tanker, the second of four ships built in Iran for the South American country under contract.

Amid rising tensions with the West, Iran has begun removing 27 surveillance cameras from nuclear facilities in the country, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Thursday. He warned that this move could deal a “fatal blow” to the weakened nuclear deal as Tehran enriches uranium to levels ever closer to war-grade.

This event took place a day after the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) censured Tehran for not providing “credible information” of artificial nuclear material found in three undeclared places in the country.

Iran’s currency plummeted to its lowest value since the IAEA censorship, at 327,500 reais per dollar.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.