WORLD
Iran President visits Latin American nations amid growing tensions with West
Baku, January 8 (AZERTAC). Mahmoud Ahmadinejad embarks on a four-nation tour aimed at courting some of Iran`s few friendships while tensions grow over the country`s threats to block oil shipments.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is courting Latin America on a four-nation tour starting Sunday that will let him tout some of Iran`s few friendships while tensions grow over the country`s threats to block oil shipments in retaliation for tighter U.S. sanctions.
His government finds itself largely isolated in the standoff over its nuclear program, and the new sanctions targeting Iran`s Central Bank and oil industry have triggered an abrupt drop in the nation`s currency.
Iran`s growing economic ties with Latin America could give it some breathing space from the sanctions, and by embracing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his allies, Ahmadinejad also gets a chance to join like-minded leaders in denouncing U.S. foreign policy.
"Iran needs all the friends it can get, and the further away it goes the easier it seems to be for it to be able to find them," said Dan Plesch, director of the University of London`s Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy.
Both Iran and Venezuela, he said, "seek to provide mutual support in the face of perceived U.S. aggression."
It will be Ahmadinejad`s fifth visit to Venezuela, to be followed by a trip to Nicaragua for Tuesday`s inauguration of re-elected President Daniel Ortega, and then stops in Cuba and Ecuador. Ahmadinejad has been to all the countries before, and the visit seems aimed at reinforcing ties with leaders who speak up for Iran.
Tensions have been rising as Iran has warned that it could retaliate against U.S. sanctions by blocking shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf. A large share of the world`s oil tanker traffic passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which runs along the Iranian coast.