Ahmadinejad Stresses Iran, Latin America’s Common Stance on Int’l Issues

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has recently returned home from a four-nation tour of Latin America, underlined the common positions of Iran and Latin American states on different international issues.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday upon his arrival from a tour of four Latin American countries, Ahmadinejad stated that the Islamic Republic is on the same front with most Latin American countries in the campaign against hegemony and injustice.

He lauded close ties between the two sides, and noted, “Iran’s relations with Latin America are very good, expansive, and strategic, and the country’s interactions and transactions with all the countries of this region are increasing and deepening.”

The tour of Latin America took the Iranian president to Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador, where all the countries’ leaders reiterated their support for Iran’s right to access peaceful nuclear technology and defended Tehran against the threats and pressures exerted by US-led West on Iran.

Iran has done a raft of deals in Latin America nations ranging from housing construction agreements with Venezuela to financing for Cuba’s purchases of Iranian-made train cars.

Iran has been seeking to boost its ties with Latin American countries in recent years to the concern of the United States.

Since taking office in 2005, President Ahmadinejad has expanded Iran’s cooperation with many Latin American states, including Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador and Brazil.

The strong and rapidly growing ties between Iran and Latin America have raised eyebrows in the US and its western allies since Tehran and Latin nations have forged an alliance against the imperialist and colonialist powers and are striving hard to reinvigorate their relations with the other independent countries which pursue a line of policy independent from the US.