Under U.S. sanctions, Iran and Venezuela sign 20-year cooperation plan

June 11 (Reuters) – Iran and Venezuela, oil producers grappling with crippling U.S. sanctions, signed a 20-year cooperation plan in Tehran on Saturday, with the Islamic Republic’s supreme chief saying the allies would proceed to withstand strain from Washington.

The signing ceremony, carried by Iranian state TV, was overseen by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro and passed off on the Saadabad Palace in north Tehran.

The plan contains cooperation within the fields of oil, petrochemicals, defence, agriculture, tourism, and tradition.

It additionally contains restore of Venezuelan refineries and the export of technical and engineering companies.

“Venezuela has shown exemplary resistance against sanctions and threats from enemies and Imperialists,” Iran’s Raisi stated. “The 20-year cooperation document is testimony to the will of the two countries to develop ties.”

“Sanctions and threats against the Iranian nation over the past 40 plus years have been numerous, but the Iranian nation has turned these sanctions into an opportunity for the country’s progress,” he stated.

Maduro stated via an interpreter {that a} weekly flight from Caracas to Tehran would start on July 18.

In a gathering with Maduro, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed Iran would proceed to again Venezuela within the face of U.S. pressures, in keeping with state media.

“The successful experience of the two countries showed that resistance is the only way to deal with these pressures,” Khamenei stated. “The two countries have such close ties with no other country, and Iran has shown that it takes risks in times of danger and holds its friends’ hands.”

Maduro stated: “You came to our aid when the situation in Venezuela was very difficult and no country was helping us.”

Defying U.S. pressures, Iran has despatched a number of cargos of gasoline to Venezuela and helped in refinery repairs. Last month, Venezuela started importing Iranian heavy crude, widening a swap settlement signed final yr to change Iranian condensate for Venezuelan heavy crude. learn extra

Maduro arrived in Tehran on Friday with a high-ranking political and financial delegation after visiting Turkey and Algeria.

During the go to, Iran delivered to Venezuela the second of 4 Aframax-sized oil tankers, with a capability of 800,000 barrels, ordered from the Iranian firm SADRA, state media stated. SADRA has been below U.S. sanctions for greater than a decade over its hyperlinks to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.

In May, Iran’s state-owned National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Co signed a contract price about 110 million euros to restore Venezuela’s smaller 146,000 barrel-per-day refinery.

Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Jason Neely, Angus MacSwan and Diane Craft

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