TEHRAN – Iran, Venezuela, and Syria have signed a trilateral agreement to cooperate on constructing a new oil refinery in Syria's Homs Province, a senior official with the Iranian Oil Ministry said.

Deputy Oil Minister Jalil Salari provided the information in an interview with Iranian media, IRNA reported on Sunday.

The deal foresees the construction of "a new 140,000-barrel refinery," whose required oil would be provided jointly by the Islamic Republic and Venezuela, Salari said.

"The [relevant] fundamental studies and designing process [for implementation of the project] has been completed," the official noted.

The refinery would complement two already functioning ones, the Banias Refinery and the Homs Refinery, which are both located in western Syria.

According to Salari, "the financing and construction [phases of the project] are on the agenda."

Iran and Syria have also signed a memorandum of understanding towards repairing the 110,000-barrel oil refinery that is located in Homs, the Iranian official reported.

Analysts say cooperation among the threesome states exemplifies their indifference towards the United States-led campaign of sanctions that have similarly targeted them over their rejection of Washington's efforts at regional and global dominance.

The cooperation also comes amid the ongoing illegal presence of U.S. forces in Syria, who are engaged in stealing the Arab country's direly needed oil resources.

U.S. military trucks and tankers frequently carry tons of grain and crude oil from the northeastern Syrian province of Hasakah to the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq as part of Washington’s systematic smuggling of basic commodities out of Syria.

The U.S. military has for long stationed its forces and equipment in northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.

Damascus, however, maintains that the deployment is meant to plunder the country’s natural resources.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump admitted on several occasions that American forces were in the Arab country for its oil wealth.

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