US Fumes at Nicaragua's
Ties With Iran
The US ambassador warned
Nicaragua about its
increasingly close ties
with Iran on Saturday,
just as President Daniel
Ortega gave tractors
built by an
Iranian-Venezuelan
company to poor farmers.
''Iran can be a
dangerous partner,''
Ambassador Paul Trivelli
told reporters, noting
that the United Nations
has imposed sanctions
against Iran because of
its nuclear program.
Trivelli did not refer
to the tractor program,
but noted increasingly
warm ties between Tehran
and Ortega, who traveled
to Iran in June to meet
with President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad.
He softened the warning
by saying those ties
''do not affect the good
relations between
Nicaraguans and
Americans.''
On Saturday, Ortega
handed out tractors and
other agricultural
equipment to farm
cooperatives in northern
Nicaragua.
The tractors were made
in Venezuela by a
company 51 per cent
owned by Iranian
investors and were
delivered to Nicaragua
under Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez's
Bolivarian Alternative
for the Americas, which
provides energy and aid
on favorable terms
mainly to leftist
governments.
Venezuela recently began
building its own
versions of Iranian
sedans.
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