Commentary (IP) - Leading a high-ranking government delegation, Iran's President, Ebrahim Raisi left Tehran for some Latin American countries on Monday, June 12, 2023.

Iran PressIran news: Ebrahim Raisi's visit to Venezuela took place one year after his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro came to Tehran. Maduro traveled to Tehran in June last year and met with officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.

President Raisi's visit to Latin America, Venezuela in particular, is of paramount importance. The trip shows the serious belief of the Iranian current administration in developing relations with the allying countries.

The development of relations with neighboring, Muslim, regional, and aligned countries is the most important part of the foreign policy strategy of Raisi's administration, and Venezuela is one of the countries aligned with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Iran and Venezuela are the targets of the US hostile policies and have made coordinated affairs in recent years to neutralize the policies. A member of the Iranian Parliament's Commission of National Security and Foreign Policy Sara Fallahi said that Venezuela is of those countries that have a lot in common with Iran due to its resistance against the US voracity; Venezuela is the backyard of the US, so Iran must shore up its ties with the Latin American country.

Furthermore, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Venezuela have taken great steps in recent years to develop economic relations. As Iran fulfills a part of Venezuela's economic needs, Caracas enjoys economic capacities from which Iran can benefit. Meanwhile, both countries are among the largest oil producers and enjoy the largest oil reserves, and their cooperation in the field of energy can be expanded. 

During Maduro's trip to Tehran last year, a 113,000-ton oil tanker built by Iranian engineers was delivered to Venezuela, which was an example of Iran's high capacity for exporting technical services to other countries.

Still, Raisi's visit to Venezuela is his 13th trip to foreign countries in less than two years. The diplomatic trips, particularly the last one to Venezuela, indicate that Iran has relations with many countries despite the sanctions, on the one hand, and shows the movement of the aligned countries with Iran to confront the unipolar structure in the world and the creation of new power blocs, on the other hand.

Finally, the Iranian President's visit to Venezuela aimed at pursuing the agreements reached between the two countries in the past. During Maduro's visit to Tehran last year, the two sides signed a 20-year cooperation agreement. After that, welcoming the agreement, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei said:

"What is necessary in long-term cooperation is to follow up on agreements and to completely implement them."

207

Read more:

Spox.: Latin America is one of the important areas in Iran's politics

Iran's interactions with LatAm states developed in the last 2 years