Chavez welcomes ally Ahmadinejad

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo  Chavez dismissed a U.S. warning to avoid close ties with Iran yesterday, denouncing what he said was Washington’s attempt to  dominate the world as he welcomed the Iranian president to the  Latin American nation.

Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived at the start of a tour to  shore up support from the region’s leftist leaders, as tough new  Western sanctions aim to isolate the Islamic republic and target  its vital oil exports.

“A spokesman or spokeswoman in Washington from the State  Department or the White House said it was not convenient for any  country to get close to Iran. Well, the truth is, it made you  laugh,” Chavez said in a televised speech.

“They’re not going to be able to dominate this world. Forget  about it (President Barack) Obama, forget about it. It would be  better to think about the problems in your country, which are  many,” he said.

“We are free. The people of Latin America will never again  kneel, dominated by the imperial Yankee. Never again,” he said,  to applause from his audience at an oil processing facility.

Obama signed measures into law on New Year’s Eve that will  make it harder for most countries to buy Iranian oil.

The European Union is also expected to announce some type of  ban on Iranian oil by the end of this month, and Washington has  said that Ahmadinejad’s planned tour of Venezuela, Cuba,  Nicaragua and Ecuador showed Iran was “desperate” for friends.

“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,” a U.S. State  Department spokeswoman said on Friday.

The sanctions are aimed at forcing Iran to halt its nuclear  work, which the United States and its allies say is aimed at  producing bombs. Iran says it is for power generation.

‘A THREAT AGAINST US’

Ahmadinejad was met at Venezuela’s Maiquetia International  Airport by an honour guard, a red carpet, and a reception  committee of about 100 people led by Vice-President Elias Jaua.

Wearing a grey suit and open-neck shirt, he did not speak to  reporters but flashed a V-for-victory sign and pumped his fist  in the air before climbing into his official car.

It remains to be seen how far Chavez would go in backing  Iran’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most  important oil shipping lane, or how much he could undermine the  sanctions by providing fuel or cash to Tehran.

In the past, Chavez has threatened to stop oil exports to  the United States but has never followed through.

Other regional leaders due to receive Ahmadinejad, like  Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Ecuadorean President  Rafael Correa of Ecuador, have a similar ideological stance to  Chavez, but fewer resources.

Ahmadinejad, who is subordinate to Supreme Leader Ayatollah  Ali Khamenei on foreign policy, has said little about the rising  tensions with the West, leaving it to Iran’s military commanders  to issue the most bellicose statements.

Under increasing fire from rival hardliners aiming to stop  his supporters making gains at an election in March, Ahmadinejad  will hope the foreign tour shows voters he still has  international clout and is not, as his critics say, a lame duck.

The increasingly warm relations between Ahmadinejad and  Chavez are a growing source of concern for Obama.

Last year, Washington imposed limited sanctions on  Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA after accusing it of  violating an earlier set of sanctions by sending at least two  shipments of oil products to Iran.

That did nothing to curb PDVSA’s crude exports to the United  States, which amount to almost a million barrels a day.

Chavez highlighted Venezuela’s many energy joint ventures  with China during his broadcast from the huge Petromonagas oil  facility. And he accused the U.S. government of trying to slow  China’s advance as a great power of the 21st century.

“The imperial Yankee is also trying to put the brakes on  Russia, as an emerging power again after the fall of the Soviet  Union. And the imperial Yankee is trying to slow the growth of  Iran as an intermediate power,” he said.

“They are inventing that Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua  are preparing attacks against the United States … You have to  watch it carefully. It is a threat against us.”