Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, June 7, 2023
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, June 7, 2023
Iran’s Raisi set to visit Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela this weekend
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a ceremony marking the country's annual army day in Tehran on April 18, 2023. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is set to take off this weekend for a tour to Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, state media reports.
Raisi’s tour of “friendly countries” begins Sunday and aims to raise Iran’s “level of economic, political and scientific cooperation” with the three US-sanctioned Latin American nations, the IRNA state news agency says.
Iran and Venezuela are both major producers in the OPEC oil cartel, placing them at the center of international discussions on the energy crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
The last Iranian president to visit Cuba and Venezuela was Hassan Rouhani in September 2016. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the last presidential visit to Nicaragua in 2007.
