Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil with his acting Iranian counterpart, Ali Bagheri Kani, in Tehran on May 22, 2024. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran.
Venezuela thanked Iran for assisting Venezuela in recovering its oil production and national economy despite the illegal US blockade.
“We have been able to recover oil production thanks to Iran, with increasing strength,” said Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil in an interview with HispanTV on Wednesday, May 22.
The Venezuelan foreign minister traveled to Tehran to participate in the funeral ceremony of the martyred Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage. He added that Iran has contributed to Venezuela’s production of almost one million barrels of oil per day.
đź”´#ENVIVO | 🇻🇪El ministro de Asuntos Exteriores de Venezuela, Yván Gil, desde los estudios de HispanTV, aborda el martirio del presidente iranĂ, Seyed Ebrahim #Raisi
đź”—SIGA EN VIVO AQUĂŤ EN TELEGRAM: https://t.co/XiFLHvT3HD pic.twitter.com/8fyxyk5uzW
— HispanTV (@Nexo_Latino) May 22, 2024
The Venezuelan foreign minister emphasized that Venezuela’s current economic recovery would not have been possible without Iran’s cooperation. Venezuela and Iran maintain a strategic relationship built by the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and reinforced by President Nicolás Maduro.
Venezuela benefits from its alliance with Iran
The Venezuelan foreign minister recalled that, after the United States imposed unilateral coercive measures against Venezuela and its oil industry, production fell from some two million barrels per day to 300,000 barrels per day.
Gil also referred to the unilateral coercive measures imposed on both Iran and Venezuela. While there are 936 measures against Venezuela, Iran is the second most sanctioned country in the world, with 2595 measures, only after Russia.
Despite the sanctions, “Venezuela is benefiting from its alliance with Iran, in agricultural, transportation, and health fields,” the Venezuelan minister said. “Iran has taught the world how to face sanctions with dignity.”
“We are countries with enormous energy resources that have chosen a sovereign route, and that bothers imperialism,” Gil added.
Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Gil in Iran for President Raisi’s Funeral
Maduro and Raisi worked on building a model relationship
Referring to the 20-year cooperation agreement between the two countries, Gil stated that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the late Iranian President Raisi worked on “building a model relationship” that will continue.
He also highlighted Raisi’s legacy of “universal leadership” in Latin America amid “the campaign of hatred, fear, and discredit” against him, which “US imperialism has always tried to impose.”
People of Iran mourning the late president
Regarding the funeral of the late president and his comrades, Minister Gil stated, “In the few hours that we have been in Tehran, we have seen the face of the people: it is a message of hope to the world, of resistance, and courage.”
He added that, despite the “hatred of the US and Western Europe,” the people of Iran are mourning for the death of their president.
En representaciĂłn del Presidente @NicolasMaduro y del pueblo venezolano, nos encontramos en Irán para asistir a los funerales del presidente Ebrahim Raisi, asĂ como del ministro de Exteriores Hossein Amir-Abdollahian y demás martirizados. En este dĂa, honramos la vida y legado de… pic.twitter.com/JoLvIIReCd
— Yvan Gil (@yvangil) May 22, 2024
Last Sunday, May 19, the helicopter carrying Raisi and his group crashed in the forested hills of the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan while returning from the border with Azerbaijan. Raisi had inaugurated a dam with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev. The crashed copter was found on Monday morning after an intensive all-night search.
Iran has decreed five days of national mourning during which various ceremonies are being held in different cities across the country in honor of the martyrs.
A total of 68 high-level foreign delegations participated on Wednesday afternoon at the International Conference Center in Tehran, the Iranian capital, to commemorate the late Iranian president and his entourage.
On Thursday, the late president was laid to rest at the Imam Reza shrine in his home city of Mashhad, in Khorasan Rezavi province.
(HispanTV)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SF
