Iran’s counterweight role in Latin America infuriates US

Iran’s counterweight role vis-à-vis the US sinister behavior in Latin America explains why Washington is countering Tehran’s growing influence in that strategic region, an Iranian academic says.

“For Washington and allies, Iran is not a real threat but rather an ‘axis of annoyance’, a thorn in their side, a political counterbalance to their sinister modus operandi in the region,” Ismail Salami wrote in a column for Press TV.

“Without a doubt, the influence of Iran has travelled far beyond the Middle East and has reached Latin America, a fact which has ruffled many feathers in Washington,” he added.

Salami described US President Barack Obama’s enactment in December 2012 of ‘Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012’, as “blatantly overt interference in Iran’s affairs.”

He stated that Iran’s “ever-increasing influence” might be hindering the US “political and military equations” across the globe.

Since 2005, Iran has opened six new embassies in Latin America. It now has 11 embassies and 17 cultural centers in the region.

“In recent years, the Islamic Republic has formed a solid alliance with a number of Latin American countries which have readily welcomed Iran’s goodwill gestures,” Salami noted in his article.

In reaction to the Act, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on January 1 that the US leaders are still living in the Cold War era and imagine that Latin America is still their backyard.

Iran has been seeking to expand relations with Latin American countries over the past few years, describing the endeavor as one of its important foreign policy strategies.

Major Latin American nations have also enhanced their diplomatic and trade ties with Iran in recent years, while their relations with Washington have been downgraded amid popular demands for an end to dependence on the United States.