Iran Pushes to Expand Ties With Cuba as Both Countries Seek to Counter US Sanctions

One of Iran’s top foreign policy priorities will be working to enhance its relationship with Cuba across several domains, according to a senior adviser to the Iranian health minister.

Ali Jafarian also explained during a coordination meeting of the 19th Iran-Cuba Joint Commission in Tehran on Tuesday that Iran’s Islamist regime has made it a central focus to expand cooperation with Latin American countries more broadly, Iranian state-run media reported.

The meeting came as both countries continued looking for ways to combat US sanctions, which are only expected to become more harsh on both Tehran and Havana when US President-elect Donald Trump enters office on Jan. 20.

Jafarian said that a comprehensive 10-year strategic plan between Iran and Cuba should serve as the foundation for all documents related to the 19th Commission on Iran-Cuba Economic Cooperation, which is scheduled to take place in Havana in February.

During Tuesday’s gathering, Mohammad Hossein Niknam, the director-general of international cooperation at the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said that, despite being thousands of miles apart, Iran and Cuba have long supported each other and are committed to strengthening their economic relations.

Iranian Ambassador to Cuba Mohammad Hadi Sobhani said during a virtual appearance that, beyond economic matters, the 19th Iran-Cuba Joint Commission will also allow the two countries to expand political cooperation.

Iran and Cuba have taken several steps to grow closer over the past year, motivated in large part by a joint opposition to the United States

Last December, both countries vowed to strengthen relations and stand together against sanctions imposed on them by Washington.

“What can neutralize the sanctions is the exchange of capacities between the two countries,” then-Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said during a joint statement with his visiting Cuban counterpart, Miguel Diaz-Canel.

“There is a serious determination between the two countries to develop relations,” Raisi said, adding that “the common feature of the two countries is that they both stand against the system of domination.”

That meeting came months after both leaders met in Havana and each said their countries faced similar situations and had to confront “Yankee imperialism and its allies with a tenacious resistance.”

Cuba has been under a US embargo since 1962 and is included on Washington’s list of countries supporting terrorism — like Iran, which is also subject to severe sanctions. Earlier this year, the US also removed Cuba from a short list of countries that it alleges are “not cooperating fully” in its fight against terrorism.

It’s unclear if Iran will end up pursuing a relationship with Cuba to resist US sanctions in a formalized way as it has with Russia.

Iranian and Russian leaders have been working on an initiative to form an international alliance against US sanctions known as the International Union Against US Sanctions. An Iranian lawmaker spearheading the effort said earlier this month that it will soon be completed.

Beyond shared hostility toward the US, Iran and Cuba have also taken several steps to expand their economic relationship. In April, for example, they established a twinning relationship between two major ports in each country to facilitate shipping and trade.

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