On a visit to Caracas, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif spoke at a panel entitled “Venezuela and Iran in Defence of the Emerging Modern World” alongside his Venezuelan counterpart and met with other senior Venezuelan officials, including President Maduro. Maduro maintained that Zarif’s trip “underlines the unwavering spirit of the strategic relations of cooperation and solidarity between Iran and Venezuela”. During a media presence on 7 November, Zarif stressed that “we have excellent relations between Iran and Venezuela”, while noting that “Iran will continue to cooperate with Venezuela in various fields, including defence, and that cooperation has nothing to do with the U.S.”.