![Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on February 11, 2023 [Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/AA-20230211-30260632-30260629-IRAN_MARKS_44TH_ANNIVERSARY_OF_ISLAMIC_REVOLUTION.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi says a new world order is being formed, favouring free and independent states while "imperialism is falling." He made the remarks yesterday at a joint meeting of high-ranking officials, during an official visit to Venezuela, the first leg of a three-nation tour of Latin America.
Speaking on joint efforts to reduce economic dependence on oil revenues and bolstering the resistance of their respective economies "against the arrogant system and [to] overcome the sanctions," Raisi said: "In the new world that is being formed, imperialism is falling and the countries that have resisted the arrogance of the arrogant are on the verge of victory."
While praising the strategic cooperation between Tehran and Caracas, Raisi said: "Despite the expansion of relations between Iran and Venezuela in recent years, diverse mutual capacities require the agreements of the two countries to be implemented as quickly as possible and the relations between them to be upgraded to higher levels."
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"The level of economic cooperation was at a level of $600 million two years ago but today this has increased trade and economic cooperation to more than $3 billion," Raisi added.
Both countries, which are under US sanctions, also signed multiple cooperation agreements, including a memorandum of understanding to expand cooperation in the field of petrochemicals. During the signing ceremony, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said: "We are signing an agreement to establish a joint shipping company Iran-Venezuela that allows us to raise trade to the levels that President Raisi is pointing out."
Raisi's comments follow similar remarks made on Saturday by the Chief of Staff of the Iranian armed forces, Major General Mohammad Baqeri, who told a gathering of senior defence officials, that "The world is on the brink of a new order, where America is no longer at the top of the global power hierarchy, and the Zionist regime is also on a path of weakening."
READ: Iran's nuclear chief says higher uranium enrichment aims to push West to lift sanctions
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