Source:

October 19, 2010

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is holding talks with Iranian leaders expected to focus on boosting cooperation between the countries’ oil, gas, and petrochemical industries.

The two-day visit to Iran is Chavez’s ninth as president. He praised Caracas’s ties with Tehran as “solid and very, very deep.”

The socialist Venezuelan leader has been a consistent supporter of Iran’s controversial nuclear program, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes, and Chavez and Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad have found common ground in their criticism of U.S. foreign policies.

The Venezuelan leader condemned “the unfair sanctions imposed on the people of Iran,” referring to United Nations sanctions imposed on Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.

Chavez’s visit to Iran is part of an international tour that already took him to Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.

compiled from agency reports