TEHRAN – Iran’s First-Vice President, Mohammad Mokhber, visited Minsk, Belarus, on Tuesday morning at the invitation of Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko.

In Minsk, Mokhber met with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko. In this meeting, President Lukashenko said the United States of America is directing the spearhead of the Middle East conflict against Iran, according to a BelTA report. 

“The situation in the world is heating up. The Middle East crisis contributes to the fact that countries unfriendly to us - the United States of America and the West - are constantly directing the spearhead of this conflict against Iran. You know it better. Our answer is: we should work more closely with each other, cooperate to counter these attacks,” Lukashenko stressed.

The Belarusian president pointed out that Belarus and Iran should cooperate more closely with each other to counter the attacks of the West.

“I hope you will not be disappointed with your visit. We have a lot of issues to discuss. I hope our conversation will yield good practical results,” he told Mokhber, adding, “You know the situation in Belarus. It is about the same as your country. The pressure exerted on our states is unprecedented, but you have already learned to resist it to some extent, and your experience is valuable for us. What I am constantly surprised by is that during these large-scale actions, Iran has not decreased the level of its development, but, on the contrary, has significantly increased it.”

Lukashenko added, “Based on the experience of relations with Iran, on many years of cooperation with Iran, I can conclude that your and our government bodies need to learn to work faster. If we have agreed on something, it must be implemented on time. The most important thing for us is time, not sanctions and pressure. We should not lose time because of red tape.”

According to the Belarusian leader, the situation in the world is aggravating, and with the crisis in the Middle East, unfriendly Western countries, led by the United States, are constantly directing the spearhead of this conflict against Iran. “You can feel it better. Our answer is as follows: we must cooperate more closely with each other to be able to counter these attacks,” the president said.

Mokhber also met with Speaker of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko and Speaker of the Council of the Republic Natalya Kochanova. In this meeting, Mokhber said that sanctions must be turned into opportunities.

"We are two countries that are subject to illegal, oppressive sanctions by the United States. But the Islamic Republic of Iran has been able to use the sanctions turning them into an opportunity," he said.

"We have achieved the highest results at a time of sanctions," Mokhber said, adding, “We used to be dependent in many areas of the country's life. Now Iran produces the most advanced military equipment. We have very good results in technology and science.”

Mohammad Jamshidi, a political aide to the Iranian president, praised the visit by Mokhber to Belarus. “The bilateral meetings of the presidents on the sidelines of regional and international summits, as well as Mr. Lukashenko's trip to Tehran in March of last year, indicate the readiness for comprehensive development of economic relations, which can lead to important agreements for the two countries in the upcoming trip,” Jamshidi said, according to IRNA. 

“The sanctions policy of Western countries against independent countries requires that more commonality and more bilateral solutions be established to overcome the oppressive sanctions of Western countries. This important issue is seriously on the agenda of Iranian statesmen during this trip,” he continued. 

President Lukashenko paid a visit to Iran in March and met his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi.F