Cuba and Iran on Thursday expressed their desire to strengthen their ties to confront the “aggressive policy” of the United States during an official visit by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, which ended in the communist island. A journey through Latin America.
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Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who received his Iranian counterpart at the Palace of the Revolution, said he hoped the alliance with Tehran would make it possible “to counter the aggressive policies of the empire together,” referring to the United States .
Iran and Cuba “must heroically and with dogged resistance face the sanctions, pressure, threats, embargoes and indifference of Yankee imperialism and its allies,” added Diaz-Canel.
“The conditions and circumstances in which Cuba and Iran find themselves have a lot in common,” added the Iranian President, stressing that in both countries “there is a desire to preserve independence,” reads the official translation.
AFP
Iran and Cuba are subject to US sanctions and are on the US State Department’s list of countries that support terrorism.
Ebrahim Raisi, whose meeting with the Cuban President was postponed by a day due to his late arrival in Havana on Wednesday evening, is doing a mini tour of Latin America with “friendly countries” in Cuba.
It started in Venezuela on Monday and continued in Nicaragua. The three countries are under sanctions from Washington and Moscow’s allies.
In Havana, the two presidents signed cooperation agreements in the areas of customs, telecommunications and the judiciary.
In the morning, Mr. Raisi attended an economic forum, where he assured that his country was ready “to cooperate with Cuba in science and technology”, particularly in the fields of hydropower and thermoelectrics, as well as in the mining industry.
In Venezuela, 25 agreements have been signed in the fields of education, health and mining. A “Basic Memorandum” to promote economic, commercial and scientific-technical cooperation was also initialed in Nicaragua.
Iran’s chief of diplomacy, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, traveled to Cuba in February. The last visit by an Iranian President to Havana was that of Hassan Rouhani in 2016.