President: Iran Ready to Promote ‘Strategic’ Ties with Nicaragua
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Lauding the strategic relations between Iran and Nicaragua, their common stances against arrogance, and their mutual values in favor of independence and freedom, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi voiced Tehran’s readiness to promote cooperation with Managua in various fields.
The Iranian president arrived in Nicaragua on Tuesday evening local time on the second leg of a tour of Latin America that took him earlier to Venezuela.
After receiving an official welcome from his Nicaraguan counterpart Daniel Ortega, Raisi honored the national heroes of the fight against imperialism in the two countries.
The Iranian president called the Nicaraguan people's resistance against arrogance the secret of the nation's victory, and said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran is a democratic system and in the 44 years that have passed since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, people's vote has shaped all the institutions of the Islamic Republic."
Raisi dismissed the Westerners' false claims of democracy and human rights, noting, "Westerners, especially Americans, should respect the systems that emerge from people's votes, but they are doing the opposite."
"America wanted to stop our nation with sanctions and threats, but our nation not only did not stop, but instead, it used the threats and sanctions to build and progress," he said.
Referring to the role of the US in the creation of ISIL and the policy of the Islamic Republic in fighting against terrorism, Raisi said, "They claim to fight terrorism, but they martyred the hero of fighting terrorism, Haj Qassem Soleimani."
For his part, Ortega referred to the simultaneity of the revolutions of Iran and Nicaragua and said, "The revolutions of the two countries had strong roots in fighting domination, especially the United States, which has always sought to impose its will on others."
The Nicaraguan president described hegemony as part of the nature of imperialism and added, "The arrogant put pressure on independent countries under the pretext of human rights and democracy, but we will stand against them with strength."
He also praised the national heroes of the two countries, condemned the US assassination of Lt. General Qassem Soleimani, and declared a minute of silence in honor of the Iranian hero of fighting terrorism.