Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is visiting South Africa on Tuesday as Tehran seeks to deepen its cooperation across the African continent amid heavy US economic sanctions.
Since taking office in 2021, Raisi has pursued a deliberate strategy of strengthening Iran’s non-Western foreign policy approach.
Raisi visited Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe — which is also under US sanctions — in July, marking it first visit of an Iranian leader to the African continent in over a decade.
In Kenya, he referred to Africa as a “continent of opportunity” — emphasizing its potential as a market for Iranian products.
“None of us is satisfied with the current volume of trade and the current economic exchanges between the countries,” Raisi said.
Raisi’s official visit to Pretoria comes just a week after South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor visited Tehran.
The Iranian president was in South Africa in August this year for the South Africa-Iran Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) held before the BRICS Summit in August.
The BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — are set to welcome Iran and five other counties in the group in January 2024, a feat that many analysts say South Africa has been instrumental in bringing about.
The historical and fraternal relationship of South Africa and Iran
The ties between the two countries date back to era of apartheid when Iran supported South African liberation movements.
Iran was one of the first countries to lift sanctions against South Africa after black-majority rule in 1994.
The JCC was established in 1995 under which the two nations have signed many bilateral agreements in almost all key areas.
During the JCC meeting held in August in Pretoria, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that Iran wanted to strengthen relations with South Africa for mutual benefit.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is fully ready to strengthen bilateral relations with South Africa without any restrictions in all areas of mutual interest such as scientific cooperation, improvement of new technology, exchange of new technologies as well as culture, tourism, the economy, trade and new energy. sector,” said Amir-Abdollahian.
Iranian exports to Africa in 2022 reached $1.28 billion (€1.20 billion) from $579 million in 2020, according to Middle East Institute.
What is this about South Africa?
And this year alone, Iran’s trade with African countries is expected to increase to more than $2 billion, Iran’s foreign ministry said.
Growth in some targeted regions was even greater, with Iran’s exports of technical and engineering services to Africa increasing by 700% in 2022.
Iran is also looking forward to increased trade with the rest of the African continent, according to Sayed Hoseini, director of the Islamic Center for Africa.
And, he told DW that South Africa wants to take advantage of Iran’s geographic location for its trade with the other BRICS countries.
“Iran is at a very strategic point in the Middle East and South Asia. In this region Iran can facilitate the connection of India and Russia through the North-South Corridor,” he explained. “And then it can connect China to the Persian Gulf and from the Persian Gulf it can connect to South Africa and connect the rest of the world.”
Iran remains on the US sanctions list and its proximity to South Africa has caused concern, according to several analysts.
Naledi Pandor, however, said Iran shares common positions on global issues with South Africa.
“Our intention as both South Africa and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been to encourage a world that is at peace with itself,” Pandor said during a recent meeting with her Iranian counterparts.
Editor: Keith Walker
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