Venezuela, Iran agree to boost anti-virus cooperation

ANKARA Venezuela and Iran agreed Monday to strengthen cooperation against the coronavirus pandemic that affected more than 1.8 million people across the globe. President Nicolas Maduro and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani agreed "to strengthen the historic comprehensive ties of cooperation between both nations, especially in light of the challenges posed by current global circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on the lives of millions of human beings and its consequences for the global economy," Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said in a statement on Twitter. The statement said two leaders expressed their willingness for a joint approach to the virus and guarantee effective communication between scientific experts from both countries to exchange experiences on good practices, clinical protocols and preventive measures. Maduro and Rouhani also underlined the importance of strengthening the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and welcomed the recent agreement of the OPEC+ mechanism, as a collective first step towards stabilizing the oil market, adding which "was so necessary". OPEC and its allies have reached a final agreement late Sunday to cut their collective oil production by a record level of 10 million barrels per day (bpd) starting from next month to balance the oil market. The presidents also denounced the Trump government and its sanctions policy against both countries. "To conclude, Presidents Hassan Rouhani and Nicolas Maduro reiterated their complaint against unilateral coercive measures imposed illegally and arbitrarily by the Trump Administration against their peoples while ratifying that they will fight together against those cruel and inhuman sanctions that Washington decides to maintain and even expand at such delicate times for humanity," the statement read. Venezuela has been under firm U.S. economic and diplomatic sanctions for more than a year as Washington recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's legitimate ruler instead of elected President Maduro. As well, tensions have been escalating between the U.S. and Iran since May 2018, when President Donald Trump withdrew from nuclear pact world powers struck with Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in relief from economic sanctions. Trump has since embarked on a campaign to scuttle the agreement, including the reimposition of sanctions on Iranian crude oil that were lifted as part of the agreement. Iran has more than 73,300 coronavirus cases and over 4,500 fatalities, while in Venezuela the numbers are pretty low with 181 cases and 9 deaths. Overall, the virus has spread to 185 countries, infecting over 1.8 million people since it first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.