Ahmadinejad’s Latin America trip, positive development: MP

Member of Pakistani Parliament on Tuesday said Latin America tour of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a positive development adding Iran as a sovereign state has a right to have strong relations with any other country.

Talking to IRNA, Deputy Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, Senator Professor Khurshid Ahmed said that it is in the interest of Latin American countries to maintain close ties with an oil rich country.
President Ahmadinejad has arrived Venezuela on the first leg of a four-nation Latin America tour that will also take him to Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has already dismissed a US warning to avoid close ties with Iran, denouncing what he said was Washington’s attempt to dominate the world as he welcomed the Iranian President to the Latin American nation.
The president is accompanied on the Latin America trip by his foreign, trade, commerce and mines and energy ministers.
Professor Khurshid Ahmed expressing his views said Iran is an important country of the world and cannot be isolated by American policies.
Chairman Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) condemned US engineered sanctions against Iran’s peaceful nuclear program adding that United Nations (UN) has become a tool in the hands of US. “UN is forwarding American agenda,” he regretted.
The lawmaker said it is right of any country in the world to have strong relations with other countries and ‘Iran is exactly doing that’.
The Senator warned against serious consequences of sanctions against Iranian oil. He said that Europe and China will suffer if sanctions are imposed on Iran’s oil production.
Professor Khurshid Ahmed said that Latin American countries are not taking US dictation and have been following independent foreign policies.
Deputy Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami that President Ahmadinejad’s tour is a positive development and is part of Iran’s aggressive diplomacy.