TEHRAN -- Venezuela’s
President Nicolas Maduro arrived Friday in the Iranian capital of Tehran on a two-day state visit.
A high-ranking political and economic delegation from Venezuela, which like Iran is under heavy U.S. sanctions, is accompanying Maduro on the visit, following an invitation from Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi.
The Bolivarian president was received at the Mehrabad airport by Defense Minister Muhammad Reza Ashtiani.
Maduro is on a Eurasian tour after being rebuffed by Washington, which decided not to invite him to the Summit of the Americas. His stops earlier this week included Algeria and Turkey.
Venezuela, along with Cuba and Nicaragua, was not invited by the Biden administration to the Summit of the Americas. That also led to a decision by Mexico’s president not to attend.
Since the 1960s, Iran and Venezuela have maintained cordial diplomatic relations, which have been strengthened in recent years in response to the U.S. aggression. Both nations have promoted joint initiatives to solve the problems caused to the Venezuelan and Iranian peoples by the coercive measures imposed from Washington.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said both countries support each other in their search for sovereign development options. Currently, Venezuela and Iran maintain different agreements related to energy, sciences, oil, defense, culture, and food.
Venezuela has received Iranian tankers at its ports and in the past, Iran also exported cars to Venezuela.