(CNN) Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi will begin a tour of “friendly countries” in Latin America next Sunday, which will take him to visit Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, with which he hopes to strengthen ties, according to the Iranian State Agency , IRNA.
At present, neither the Presidency nor the Iranian Foreign Ministry have made any public statements on the matter.
CNN is asking for confirmation from the governments of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua on the Iranian president’s visit, without having received a response so far.
According to Iran’s state agency, Raisi will lead a delegation seeking to develop “economic, political and scientific” cooperation, in what would be his first trip to the region since he took office in August 2021.
The Iranian government did not specify the objectives of the head of state’s trip to Latin America and only underlined that it was “looking for new support on the international scene”.
Venezuela is one of the countries closest to the Iranian regime. A year ago, the president of that country, Nicolas Maduro, visited Tehran and signed cooperation agreements in defense, energy, oil and gas, among others.
In late February, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, met in Geneva, Switzerland and promised to “keep working to strengthen binational relations.”
