The governments of Cuba and Iran expressed yesterday Thursday their willingness to strengthen their relations to counter the “aggressive policy” of the US, on the occasion of the official visit to Havana of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who completed the island under communist rule government his tour of Latin America.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who welcomed his Iranian counterpart at the Palace of the Revolution, emphasized that his wish is for the alliance with Tehran to allow us to “face together the aggressive policy of the empire”, referring to Washington.

Iran and Cuba must “confront, by projecting unquenchable resistance, the sanctions, pressures, threats, embargoes and indifference of Yankee imperialism and its allies,” Mr. Díaz-Canel continued.

“The conditions and circumstances in which Cuba and Iran find themselves have a lot in common,” the Iranian president said, stressing that the two countries “have the will to defend their independence,” according to the official translation of his statement.

Both Iran and Cuba are subject to US sanctions and have been included in the State Department’s list of states that support “terrorism”.

Ibrahim Raisi, whose meeting with his Cuban counterpart was delayed by a day due to his late arrival Wednesday night in Havana, ended his mini-tour of “friendly countries” in Latin America in Cuba.

It started on Monday in Venezuela and continued in Nicaragua. All three countries are subject to US sanctions and are considered allies of Russia.

In Havana, the two presidents signed cooperation agreements in the fields of customs, telecommunications and justice.

In the morning, Mr. Raisi participated in an economic forum, where he assured that Tehran is willing to “cooperate with Cuba in science and technology” especially in hydroelectric, thermoelectric projects and in the raw materials mining industry.

In Venezuela, 25 agreements were signed in the fields of education, health, mining. In Nicaragua, an agreement was signed to boost economic, trade and scientific and technological cooperation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdolakhian visited Cuba in February. The previous visit of an Iranian president to Havana was the one made in 2016 by Hassan Rouhani.