President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega has met with a high-level Iranian delegation on a visit to the Central American country on 6 May, according to Vice President of Nicaragua Rosario Murillo.

The Iranian delegation, led by the Iranian Oil Minister, Javab Owji, is in Iran to discuss and promote bilateral cooperation projects with Nicaraguan authorities. Murillo welcomed the arrival of the delegation in a press conference.

In an interview to local media, Owji announced that, having analyzed the capacity of Nicaragua’s oil, gas and petrochemical industry, Iran is willing to provide fuel and petroleum derivatives to Nicaragua.

Owji said that “as two brotherly countries facing sanctions and the unjust and illegal aggressions of the United States and its allies, it is urgent for us to have a multidimensional development of bilateral relations in all areas in order to overcome our challenges.”

The Iranian delegation arrived in Managua on 5 May, and began talks with government officials on energy, agriculture, livestock, and parliamentary exchanges, among other topics.

According to media reports, meetings were held with Foreign Minister Denis Moncada and the president of the National Assembly, Gustavo Porras.

Moncada thanked Iran for its donation of 200,000 doses of Coviran Barekat vaccine against Covid-19.

Javad Owji also met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on 3 May, to discuss energy relations and ways to overcome the repercussions of US sanctions unilaterally imposed on the two countries.

Venezuela and Iran have recently stepped-up their energy cooperation in order to overcome US sanctions, with Venezuela importing condensate from Iran to dilute the extra-thick Orinoco crude into an exportable blend.

On 31 January this year, an Iranian supertanker discharged two million barrels of Iranian condensate at the main port of Venezuela’s state-run oil company.

According to a report from a US media outlet in January, Venezuela was able to double its oil production to about 900,000 barrels of oil per day in December 2021, as a result of the bilateral deal between Iran and Venezuela to defy the US sanctions imposed on them.