Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif, arrived Wednesday morning in Venezuela on an official visit to continue strengthening the strategic, cooperation, solidarity-based relations at the highest level that the two countries have consolidated in the last years amid the imperial blockade they face.
At the Simón Bolívar International Airport, the Iranian high-ranking official was welcomed by Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs, Jorge Arreaza; Vice-minister for Asia, the Middle East and Oceania, Rubén Darío Molina; and Iran’s ambassador to Venezuela, Hojattollah Soltani.
Foreign Minister Zarif will fulfill a tight agenda in the Bolivarian nation including meetings with Venezuelan high-ranking officials.
“Today, at 3:45 a.m., we welcomed our brother, #Iran’s Foreign Minister @JZarif. Each high-level visit deepens our strategic alliance, our brotherhood. #Venezuela and #Iran have demonstrated their solidarity and courage in the face of aggressions. We will fulfill an intense agenda during his stay,” posted Foreign Minister Arreaza on his Twitter account @jaareaza.
On September 28, Venezuela’s and Iran’s foreign ministers held a virtual meeting to discuss the progress made in comprehensive cooperation projects in areas such as energy, health, agriculture and food.
Likewise, they talked about Iran’s scientific developments in the fight against COVID-19 and the experience shared by the two countries in facing the illegal unilateral coercive measures imposed by the U.S.
By early August this year, Venezuela and Iran celebrated the 70th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.
In a statement dated August 9, President Nicolás Maduro highlighted that in seven decades, the two countries “have built a fruitful bilateral relation, which has been strengthened by the patriotic resistance in the defense of their peoples’ sovereignty, forging an unbreakable bond of brotherhood.”
The Venezuelan president extolled Iran’s effective solidarity to face the U.S. criminal blockade and illegal unilateral coercive measures by sending Iranian tankers carrying fuel and supplies to Venezuela, challenging the U.S. Government’s threats.
Foreign Minister Javad Zarif visited Venezuela in July 2019 to attend the Ministerial Meeting of the NAM Coordinating Bureau held in Caracas.