US fears losing legitimacy: Iran MP

An Iranian lawmaker says the US fears losing its legitimacy among the Latin American nations and is therefore making an all-out effort to undermine Iran’s role model as an effective state.

“The US feels threatened and is worried that Latin American states …will reject US policies and diplomacy and bring about a revolution against the US discriminatory policies,” said Abdolmohammad Baba-Ahmadi on Monday.

He was referring to a recent warning issued by Washington with regards to the Latin American states’ increasing diplomatic and business ties with Iran.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Friday that “We are making absolutely clear to countries around the world that now is not the time to be deepening ties, not security ties, not economic ties, with Iran.”

The US State Department statement came ahead of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador.

Baba-Ahmadi went on to say that Iran pursues its diplomatic relations with other nations in line with international law, adding that the US wishes to still be regarded as a superpower in the world and that is the reason behind which it resorts to negative propaganda against countries like Iran that enjoy good position in the globe.

President Ahmadinejad arrived in Caracas on the first leg of his five-day Latin American tour. His stay in Venezuela will be followed with a trip to Nicaragua to attend the inauguration of its recently re-elected leader Daniel Ortega.

Leaders of these four Latin American countries have in recent years built up diplomatic and trade ties with Iran, while their relations with the US have been greatly reduced amid popular demand for an end to dependence on Washington.