Venezuelan, Iranian leaders blast Bush
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his
visiting Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Khatami, on Saturday criticized
US President George W. Bush and urged countries pressed by Washington to
reject its threats.
While attending the opening of the Veniran Tractor C.A., a tractor
joint-venture, in Ciudad Bolivar, 500 km southeast of Caracas, the
country's capital, Chavez repeated his accusation that Washington
intends to assassinate him, and prayed that God "save us" from Bush.
Chavez criticized Bush for alleging himself as "the owner of the world,"
and emphasized that God has "us to save from him and to save the world
from the true threat."
Khatami, on the final day of his three-day visit, urged Venezuela and
other countries pressed by Washington to "be strong" and "reject their
threats to invade us."
In the joint-venture plan, the factory is expected to produce 5,000
tractors a year, and the total investment will amount to 34.8 million US
dollars, of which 49 percent will come from the Venezuelan Guayana
Corporation (CVG) and 51 percent from Iranian firm Itimco.
Khatami arrived in Venezuela on Thursday, his third visit to the country
following the ones in September 2000 and February 2004.
Relations between Caracas and Washington have been tense. Chavez has
repeatedly accused Washington of planning to assassinate him and
initiate a military intervention against Venezuela, the world's
fifth-largest oil exporter that produces more than 3 million barrels of
crude oil a day.
Iran and the United States, which had been close allies in the 1970s,
turned into enemies after the Islamic Revolution of Iran in1979.
Washington accuses Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons and
sponsoring terrorism, categorizing Iran as part of the so-called "axis
of evil" and imposing harsh sanctions on the country.
Iran, in return, terms the United States as enemy of the whole Islamic
world.
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