Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez met with a delegation from Iran on Saturday to prepare for an upcoming visit from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — an alliance that has provoked concern in Washington.
Venezuelan Ambassador to Iran David Velasquez said following the meeting that Ahmadinejad’s visit would deepen ties between the countries and “allow us to move ahead in the transfer of technology and industry,” Venezuela’s state-run Bolivarian News Agency reported.
Latin America’s leftist leaders have in recent years strengthened relations with countries including China and Iran — inroads that US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday termed “quite disturbing.”
“They are building very strong economic and political connections with a lot of these leaders. I don’t think that’s in our interest,” Clinton said.
She said Washington aims to improve deteriorating relations with Latin American nations including Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela to counter the growing influence of China, Iran and Russia in the region.
Chavez and Ahmadinejad — both well-known for their anti-US rhetoric — have forged ties in everything from finance to factories.
Iran manufactures cars, tractors and bicycles in Venezuela.
Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar met Chavez on Wednesday to discuss military cooperation, though a statement from Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not divulge details.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
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