The Marxist-Islamist love affair continues.
(AFP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, under increasing pressure from debilitating Western economic sanctions, Sunday begins a tour of Latin America aimed at shoring up ties with his few remaining allies.
Ahmadinejad will meet fellow US foe and firebrand Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on a four-nation trip that coincides with rising international concern over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
The Iranian leader will arrive in Caracas late Sunday, kicking off a five-day trip that will on Tuesday see him attend the inauguration of the recently re-elected Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega.
Stops in Cuba and Ecuador will round off the tour. All four Latin American countries have frosty ties with the United States and their leaders have in the past four years made numerous visits to Tehran to build up diplomatic and business links while relations with Washington have worsened.
Ahmadinejad’s international affairs director, Mohammad Reza Forqani, said the visit to “what used to be called the backyard of America shows the dynamism of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s diplomacy in the world arena.”
The trip also “invalidates the claims of the enemies,” Forqani was quoted as saying by Iranian state media on Tuesday, in a clear jab at Washington.
Officials in Ecuador meanwhile confirmed Ahmadinejad would visit the South American nation on Thursday, in the Iranian leader’s second visit since attending President Rafael Correa’s inauguration in 2007.
Ahmadinejad will talk with Latin American leaders about “bilateral ties and regional and international issues,” according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.