GENEVA– In an exclusive interview with the Tehran Times, Venezuela's Foreign Minister stated that the world is on the cusp of a transformation that would allow different countries to build their relations based on solidarity and respect. 

Yvan Gil Pinto made the remarks on the sidelines of the 55th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva when asked about how Iran and Venezuela are planning to strengthen their ties in the light of Western sanctions. 

“Venezuela and Iran are cooperating in a very intense bilateral manner and this has led us to create a route to defeat illegal sanctions. The only way to tackle these sanctions in practice is the unity of our people. We have to condemn these sanctions because they are illegal and criminal and ask them to be lifted. In the meantime, the governments of Iran and Venezuela have to come up with new trade and financial systems that could act as alternatives in the face of the West’s sanctions,” Pinto told the Tehran Times correspondent. 

Iran and Venezuela, both subject to illegal U.S. sanctions, have been active economic partners in the past years. 

In a state visit by President Nicolas Maduro to Tehran in 2020, the two countries signed a 20-year cooperation deal that covered the energy sector as well as several other industries. Three years later, Iran and Venezuela announced their decision to increase the volume of bilateral trade to 20 billion dollars, as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited the South American country during a regional tour. 

“The new world order that is being born is based on complementarity and justice. It is being created according to the UN charter and international human rights laws. Iran and Venezuela are also committed to this emerging world order,” he pointed out.  

While responding to other journalists on Tuesday, the Venezuelan foreign minister also condemned international bodies for failing to hold Israel accountable for its ongoing genocidal attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip. 

“Human rights bodies like to pretend that they are very sensitive by reacting strongly to unfounded allegations against countries like Venezuela and Iran. You, however, cannot sense the same attitude when it comes to people being murdered in Palestine,” Pinto said, adding that Israel must face reckoning for the gruesome crimes it has been committing against humanity. “Venezuela’s position is very clear: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and it should be tried for that.”

On January 26 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) imposed interim measures against Israel ordering the regime to immediately take actions to halt genocidal activities in Gaza, stop and penalize incitement to genocide, grant access to humanitarian aid, safeguard evidence of alleged crimes, and provide a progress report to the court within a month. 

Israel, however, has not tamped down its violence in the enclave, with some reports suggesting that the regime has stepped up its crimes against civilians in some areas of Gaza.  It has so far killed over 30,000 civilians there and reduced the majority of the strip to the ground. The regime is also planning to launch a military offensive in Rafah city, which currently shelters over 1.5 million internally displaced Palestinians.

By Soheila Zarfam