In his meeting with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and his accompanying delegation on 04 December 2023, Ayatollah Imam Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, spoke about the two countries' great political and economic capacities. He said, “These capacities should be used to form an alliance and coalition between countries with the same position on resisting American and Western bullying.”

He continued, “By focusing on economic cooperation, this coalition can take common and effective positions on important global issues such as the one on Palestine.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution warned, “The issue of Palestine is not only related to the recent occurrences in Gaza and the bombings because, for the last seventy-five years, the Palestinian people have been subjected to all kinds of tortures, sufferings and killings. Now, the disaster in Gaza is so immensely catastrophic that the reality has been revealed to the public opinion of the world, and it is impossible to hide.”

Ayatollah Imam Khamenei said that the positions of the Cuban president on global issues, especially the issue of Palestine, are in line with the positions of the Islamic Republic. Referring to the cooperation of the two countries in international forums, he added, “There are several fields where the relations between the two countries can be strengthened, including scientific cooperation. We hope that because Mr Raisi's government is a "work and action" government, understandings and agreements will progress and reach the stage of implementation and action.”

He also referred to his meeting twenty-two years ago with Mr. "Fidel Castro", the late leader of Cuba. He said, “Iranian revolutionaries, before the victory of the Islamic revolution, always had a special attraction towards the Cuban revolution and the personality of Mr. Castro. This was because of his honesty in his revolutionary positions.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution mentioned that "revolutionary honesty", "revolutionary resoluteness", and "revolutionary determination" are common features that the Cuban and Islamic Revolutions share.

President Hujjatul-Islam Wal-Muslimin Raisi also attended the meeting. The President of Cuba, Mr. Miguel Diaz-Canel, expressed his pleasure at meeting the Leader of the Islamic Revolution. He said that he had considered the words of the Leader and the positions he had mentioned to be in line with the concerns and positions of the Cuban government. He said, “Relations between Iran and Cuba have been on the right track since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, and in our talks in Tehran, we concentrated all our efforts to deepen these relations, especially in the economic and commercial fields.”

The President of Cuba pointed out that the two countries can complement each other in various fields, especially in dealing with interventionist actions and sanctions by the United States and its allies. He added, “Iran and Cuba can also increase their international cooperation and become influential in important global issues such as Palestine.”

Concerning the issues of Palestine and Gaza, Mr Miguel Diaz-Canel said, “What is happening in Gaza today is an unacceptable genocide and what’s surprising is that international organisations are turning a blind eye to the killing of tens of thousands of people in Gaza, two-thirds of whom are children and women. Those who were constantly complaining about the war between Ukraine and Russia and the killing of civilians are now silent about the killing of tens of thousands of people in Gaza, and this shows the very deplorable state of the world.”