WASHINGTON (IslamOnline) - Sources reported that Cuban President Fidel Castro met with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Khatami, on Saturday in a bid to broaden relations between the two countries, both of which are subject to U.S. trade embargoes.

Khatami's arrival here Friday, after an Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) summit in Venezuela, marked the first visit to Cuba by an Iranian president in 40 years.

The two leaders met at Havana's Palace of the Revolution for closed-door talks.

Although trade between the two countries does not exceed $30 million a year, Cuba and Iran are interested in barter deals like exchanging Iranian oil for Cuban sugar, according to Iranian sources.

Later in the day, Khatami planned to visit the Center of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, where Cuban scientists produce medicine that is being exported around the world.

Cuba and Iran first established diplomatic relations in 1975, but Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi subsequently broke them off. The ties were restored in 1979, in the wake of the Islamic revolution in Iran.

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