Washington wary as Tehran tries to expand Latin ties

Washington: Iran is quietly seeking to expand its ties with Latin America in what US officials and regional experts say is an effort to circumvent economic sanctions and gain access to much-needed markets and raw materials.

The new diplomatic offensive, which comes amid rising tensions with Washington and European powers, includes a four-nation swing through the South and Central America this month by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

His government has vowed to increase its economic, political and military influence in the United States' back yard.

The visit reinforces recent commitments by Iran to invest millions of dollars in economic development projects for the region, from a mining joint venture in Ecuador to factories for petrochemicals and small-arms ammunition in Venezuela.

Iran has also dramatically expanded its diplomatic missions throughout the hemisphere and dispatched members of its elite Quds Force — the military unit US officials in October linked to a foiled assassination plot in Washington — to serve in its embassies, US officials and Iran experts say.

Top priority

The importance of Ahmadinejad's visit was underscored last week by Iran's state-owned Press TV, which said promotion of "all-out cooperation with Latin American countries is among the top priorities of the Islamic Republic's foreign policy".

Iran has dispatched a stream of lower-ranking officials to the region in recent months.

Ahmadinejad granted a live interview on December 13 with Venezuela's state-owned broadcaster TeleSUR in which he hailed the close ties between the two countries and boasted of Iran's advances in military technology, including unmanned drones.

"No one dares attack Iran," Ahmadinejad said in the interview.

Latest outreach

With its latest outreach, Iran appears to be seeking to woo back Latin American countries that have grown wary of doing business with Tehran. Iran's closest ally in the region, Venezuela, had its largest petroleum company hit with US sanctions last year over its ties with Iran.

Smaller countries such as Nicaragua and Bolivia have seen little of the millions of dollars in aid promised by Iranian officials over the past decade.

But with Western nations threatening to boycott Iranian oil, the country's leaders are scrambling to find willing foreign partners who can soften the blow of sanctions and provide diplomatic cover for Iran's nuclear ambitions, current and former US officials say.

"Iran has been actively working for years to expand its ties and influence in the Western Hemisphere, and it has found willing partners in the region's anti-American despots," said Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Ros-Lehtinen said she was disturbed by Ahmadinejad's plans for what she called a "tour of tyrants", saying it would bring "the Iranian threat closer to our shores".

The visit is expected to include Venezuela, Ecuador, Cuba and Nicaragua, where the Iranian president will be a guest at the inauguration of newly reelected leader Daniel Ortega.

Not much backing

Yet efforts in the region also have yielded disappointments. Iran's Latin American partners do far more business with the United States and other Western nations than with Iran, and most have been reluctant to fully back the Islamic republic in disputes over sanctions or curbs on Iran's nuclear programme.

Some would-be allies also have been disappointed when Iran failed to deliver on promised development projects and joint ventures, such a proposed $350 million (Dh1.28 billion) deep-water port for Nicaragua.

A report released in November by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, questioned whether Iran ever could succeed at building an effective support network in the region, even if it managed to make good on its grandiose commitments.

"While Iran's overtures to peripheral states have the potential to weaken US attempts to contain and isolate Iran, Tehran's web is fragile and possibly illusory," the CSIS report stated.