TEHRAN- Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto has stated that Iran and his Latin American nation play a vital part in the emergence of a new world order and that the United States’ hegemonic influence is dwindling.

Gil made the comments in an exclusive interview with the Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV network that aired on Friday.

He referred to the recent visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Caracas and his meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as evidence that collaboration and contact between Tehran and Caracas are intended to serve the mutual interests of both parties and preserve the global balance.

He went to add, “Our countries are emerging powers and fundamental pillars of this new world order. There are many shared interests and a lot of common ground. As the presidents stated, we are sister states, and we have a long list of tasks to accomplish in the next twenty years.”

Amid continuous issues in the U.S., the senior Venezuelan diplomat said, “I do not find the American model of governing international relations to be viable.”

He emphasized that around 40 million Americans are living in poverty and that the U.S. has abandoned human ideals in favor of robbing other countries of their riches and violating their citizens' human rights.

“We see how the United States as a society is increasingly deteriorating, a society festering with racism, hatred, drugs, and a series of consequences that gradually increase due to this decay, leading to the end of this social model. We are confident that this model will collapse,” Gil underlined. 

He also complimented the Iranian people for standing up to sanctions and the West’s “maximum pressure” campaign, noting that “young Venezuelans admire the resilience of Iranians.”

Gil emphasized that both Iran and Venezuela are pursuing a transition to a free world and are doing it through the new political geography that is taking shape while stating that both nations are victims of sanctions and blockades.

He asserted that Venezuela and Iran share a strong opposition to imperialism, support multilateralism, the freedom of other countries to mold their own futures, and uphold the UN Charter.

Gil applauded a 20-year cooperation deal between Iran and Venezuela that was reached in June 2022, noting that it intends to improve partnership in a number of areas, including science, technology, mutual investment, oil and gas, mining, agriculture, petrochemical products, and tourism.

He said that Venezuela, with its abundant oil resources, plays a significant role in Latin America, while Iran is a “key player” in Eurasia.

The Venezuelan foreign minister also underscored that neither Venezuela nor Iran is considering any act of aggression against others, and are only seeking that world nations be granted the right to determine their own destiny.

Gil also praised President Raisi for his recent trip to Caracas, which was the first stop in his three-nation tour of Latin America.

Despite the West’s hostile measures and belligerence, Iran and Venezuela have continued their revolutionary paths throughout the past few decades, according to the minister.

Finally, he downplayed Washington’s concerns about the developing ties between Tehran and Caracas, adding that the U.S. is concerned because both nations have chosen independence.

President Raisi made a five-day trip to Latin America. He departed Tehran on Monday morning and returned home on Friday afternoon.

Raisi was accompanied by a large politico-economic delegation that included the ministers of defense, foreign affairs, petroleum, health, and culture. 

On Monday evening, local time, Raisi was officially welcomed by his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas.

In addition to Venezuela, Raisi also traveled to Nicaragua and Cuba, where he held high-level meetings with the officials of these countries to move Iran-Latin America relations to the next level. 

Iran has long been seeking to cement its ties with the countries in Latin America, which share great political and economic commonalities with Iran. At least since the late 2000s, Iran has been working to upgrade ties with the countries of this region, particularly Venezuela. 

Great strides have been made towards achieving strategic relations with Latin America. For instance, Iran-Venezuela relations have already been upgraded to a strategic level, with economic interactions between the two sides are steadily rising. 

Before his departure, Raisi had said the objective of his visit was to upgrade the level of relations to a strategic one. 

The president described the relations between Iran and the independent countries in Latin America as strategic. “The common positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the three countries of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba is to stand against the domination system and confront unilateralism,” he said, according to readout by the official website of the Iranian presidency. 

Iran’s strong desire to cement relations with some Latin American countries can be put in the context of the Raisi administration’s balanced foreign policy agenda and shared goals that bond Iran to the independent countries in Latin America.