Iran's Raisi In Latin America To Find Ways Around US Sanctions

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi says the goal of his three-nation tour of Latin America this week was forming an alliance to circumvent US sanctions.

Raisi, who arrived in Cuba for the last leg of his tour early Thursday, was received by Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez upon arrival at the airport and met with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana.

"Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Iran are among the countries that have had to heroically confront sanctions (...) threats, blockades and interference by Yankee imperialism and its allies with a tenacious resistance," Diaz-Canel told his Iranian counterpart, adding "This visit reinforced our conviction that we have in Iran a friendly nation in the Middle East, with which to confide ... and talk about the most complex global issues."

Raisi, in his turn, said, "The conditions and circumstances in which Cuba and Iran find themselves today have many things in common. Every day our relations grow stronger."

Raisi had earlier visited Venezuela, where he and President Nicolas Maduro pledged to boost bilateral trade from $3 billion to $20 billion within an unspecified time frame. Except Iran shipping oil and fuel to Venezuela and reportedly receiving gold, there is not much else the two sanctioned countries can trade.

He later visited Nicaragua, where he had a welcome ceremony at the Non-Aligned Square in the capital Managua led by President Daniel Ortega.

During all the stops, Raisi and the head of state of the host country oversaw ceremonies to signa raft of so-called economic agreements in a show of unity against the United States.

Common themes in Raisi’s speeches throughout the entire tour were creating a “new world order” that would overturn the US "domination" and cooperation among independent -- read sanctioned -- countries in the face of “the imperialist regime,” to become more resilient against US demands and its sanctions.

The three countries chosen as Raisi’s destination South are under scores of embargos over their shady economic dealings with blacklisted outfits such as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and their track record of crackdown on dissent.

The Islamic Republic is relishing a sense of undermining its archrival, the US, as Raisi toured fellow sanctioned nations, celebrating it as a diplomatic coup de force at ‘America's backyard’.

During a joint press conference with his Nicaraguan counterpart on Wednesday, Raisi stressed the need for cooperation among “independent countries” towards neutralizing the predicaments that they commonly face, particularly Western sanctions.

"Cooperation between Latin American countries and other independent countries across various regions can forge a unity that can both neutralize sanctions and increase the capacities of the countries in question," he said, claiming that Iran “turned threats and sanctions into opportunities, and through these opportunities made great progress in different areas."

Riais's claim of successes contradict Iran's dire economic crisis and the daily criticism in Iran even by some of his allies.

Echoing similar anti-US sentiments, Ortega said: "We pay homage along with our heroes and martyrs, to all the heroes and martyrs of Iran and in particular to General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated by Yankee imperialism when he was fighting against terrorism."

The Iranian president was accompanied with a large delegation made up of ministers and officials as well as his wife, who also made headlines for her controversial remarks during an interview with a Venezuelan TV channel. 

Claiming that governments abuse at the workplace in the name of freedom, Jamileh Alamolhoda – daughter of firebrand cleric Ahmad Alamolhoda – called it an example of violence when women study and work like men.

"We want women to remain women. Why should we be like men? Why should we study, work or live like men? This is a form of violence," she said.