Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met with his Cuban counterpart Miguel Díaz-Canel in Havana on Thursday, the last leg of a three-nation tour of Latin and Central America aimed at bolstering support among his Latin American allies, which, like Iran, have been hit by US sanctions , reports Reuters.

Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez and Ebrahim Raisi in HavanaPhoto: AA/ABACA / Abaca Press / Profimedia

Raisi told reporters at a trade forum that Iran and Cuba would seek opportunities for cooperation in a number of areas, such as power generation, biotechnology and mining.

“The conditions and circumstances in which Cuba and Iran find themselves today have a lot in common,” President Raisi said in a conversation with his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Diaz-Canel. “Our relationship is getting stronger every day.”

High-ranking officials of the two countries signed administrative agreements aimed at stimulating cooperation in the fields of justice, telecommunications and customs authorities.

Earlier this week, the Iranian president discussed in Venezuela the intensification of bilateral trade and the expansion of cooperation in the field of petrochemicals. Before arriving in Cuba, Ebrahim Raisi met with President Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua.

“Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Iran are among the countries that must heroically resist the sanctions, (…) threats, blockades and interference of Yankee imperialism and its allies with stubborn resistance,” Díaz-Canel told the Iranian president.

“This visit strengthened our belief that we have in Iran a friendly Middle Eastern state that we can rely on … and with whom we can talk about the most difficult global issues.”

The Iranian president’s visit comes at a time when Cuba is also trying to strengthen ties with distant but important allies such as Russia and China, which are subject to US sanctions. Cuba’s president met with the presidents of Russia and China last year, strengthening ties and signing agreements to ease the country’s debt burden and receive aid after the devastating effects of Hurricane Yang, which tore through the island last fall.

Communist Cuba is under US sanctions imposed shortly after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. Those restrictions, tightened under the Trump administration, have contributed to an almost unprecedented economic crisis marked by shortages of food, fuel and medicine. (Agerpress)