By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

Venezuela’s economy is out of the doldrums and because of timely help from Iran its oil production is back on the track with exports booming in spite of the US sanctions.
This is not the statement of the government in Caracas, but a rueful admission by the Americans themselves, as reported by the imperialist news agency Reuters.
The report said “The main turning point (for boosting the economy) came from a swap deal between state-run Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) that began in September.”
It was referring to the several oil shipments that the Islamic Republic sent as relief measures to the oil-rich Latin American state where sabotage by US agents had severely affected the output leading to shortage of fuel for public and private vehicles and resulting in long queues at petrol pumps and the usual grumbling.
Iranian shipments, added the Reuters reporter, proved crucial for Venezuela in reopening of oilfields and generating exportable grades from the extra-heavy crude produced at the Orinoco Belt.
To the horror of the regime in Washington, help from Iran made Venezuela almost double its oil production from last year’s decades-low as its PDVSA struck deals that let it pump and process more extra heavy crude into exportable grades.
Steady supplies of a key diluent from Iran lifted output to 824,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November, well above the first three-quarters of the year and 90% more than the monthly average a year earlier.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, true to its principled policy of helping oppressed nations and campaigning against terrorism, whether by non-state actors or state actors, such as the US and its client regimes, has spared no efforts to boost economic and industrial cooperation with several world countries, including those in Latin America, especially Venezuela.
Iran, which itself is the prime victim of US economic and political terrorism, has always shared its successes with friendly countries confronted by the murderous regimes that march in and out of the White House, whether Republican or Democrat.
President Nicolas Maduro, like his predecessor Hugo Chavez, has denounced the crimes against humanity of the US, including the dastardly assassination of the “Hammer of Terrorists” General Qassem Soleimani, whose smiling face, visit to Caracas in April 2019, and valuable suggestions helped Venezuela overcome its crisis.
He recalled during a recent interview with Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen TV: “Lt. General Soleimani was an optimistic man. I thank God for ever meeting him.
“We were in the midst of an electricity crisis orchestrated by imperialists against Venezuela’s national electrical power grid. We had conversations on several areas of cooperation, including electricity, and all matters discussed were later put into action.”
Maduro, who is scheduled to visit Iran soon to finalize new agreements on cooperation in several fields, further said about Martyr Soleimani: “He fought terrorism and savage criminals, who attacked ordinary people and the Axis of Resistance.
“Is this really a world we want, where the White House issues an order to assassinate a hero of the struggle against terrorism in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon?”