Venezuela's Chavez holds talks with 'brother' Ahmadinejad

TEHRAN: Venezuela's fiercely anti-US President Hugo Chavez held talks with his Iranian opposite number Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday, on the last leg of a tour of nations at loggerheads with Washington.   

Chavez arrived in Tehran on Saturday for a two-day stay and was meeting his "ideological brother" Ahmadinejad in Tehran, following visits to Russia and Belarus.   

Aside from their anti-US stance, the two countries enjoy warm ties and cooperation in the energy sector, with Iran OPEC's second largest crude producer and Venezuela also a major player in the cartel.   

Chavez, who is accompanied by his foreign, communication, energy, industry and economy ministers, is expected to sign a number of agreements including the construction of 7,000 houses, a petrochemical plant and a vocational training centre in Venezuela.   

The two leaders will inaugurate construction of a joint petrochemical plant on Monday in the southern city of Asaluyeh which will produce a million tons of methanol every year, the official IRNA news agency said.   

A similar plant would be built in Venezuela to give Iran better access to Latin American and Brazilian markets and provide easier reach to India and Pakistan for Venezuela, IRNA said.   

Ahmadinejad toured Latin America in January in a bid to seek support from the region's leftist leaders who share his scornful defiance of the United States.   

Chavez is the most vocal cheerleader in Latin America for Iran and its nuclear programme, which is feared by the West to be a cover for weapons development although Tehran insists it is purely peaceful.   

His trip comes as Iran is being threatened with toughened UN Security Council sanctions for its continued refusal to freeze uranium enrichment, a process which makes nuclear fuel but can also be the core of an atomic bomb.   

The United States, which broke diplomatic ties with Iran in 1979, has been spearheading the international campaign to stop Iran's enrichment programme and has never ruled out ruled out a military option to halt the drive.   

Venezuela and several other Latin American countries are members of the Non-Aligned Movement that at a summit last year emphatically backed Iran's right to nuclear energy.   

Venezuela was alone in September 2005 in opposing a resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that found Iran in violation of nuclear safeguards, paving the way for its referral to the Security Council.   

"Latin America offers good opportunities for cooperation. Common political views and positions help us to have better cooperation," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.   

Before heading to Iran, Chavez met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus counterpart Alexander Lukashenko and urged a global revolution against Washington.   

He has also discussed possible purchases of submarines and other defence equipment from Russia, arguing that these are needed to defend his oil-rich country against the United States.   

Chavez said on his arrival in Tehran he might withdraw Venezuela's application for full membership in Mercosur, South America's leading trade bloc, in response to objections from Brazilian lawmakers.   

Mercosur is known as the Common Market of the South. It aims at bringing about the free movement of goods, capital and services among its member states.   

Earlier this month, Iran welcomed Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, a Cold War foe of the United States. Tehran has also boosted ties with other countries which have frosty ties with Washington, notably Belarus, whose president has been condemned by the European Union for rights violations.   

Bolivian President Evo Morales is also expected to visit Tehran in the coming months.