- Title: VENEZUELA: Venezuela and Iran sign bilateral agreements
- Date: 27th November 2009
- Summary: AUDIENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT, SAYING: "What do the imperialists say? That Ahmadinejad is here because we are making the atomic bomb here too. They're the ones with the atomic bombs, and remember the Yankee imperialists dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They do that, they drop atomic bombs." AUDIENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) MAHMOU
- Embargoed: 12th December 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA6HD36CPLHVTJH2F4QBXHK0JBH
- Story Text: Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez used a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday (November 25) to brand Israel as a murderous agent of Washington.
Chavez and Ahmadinejad, on the last leg of a tour of three left-leaning South American nations, hugged, held hands, and praised each other as fellow revolutionaries.
During the news conference, Chavez said that the United States were the ones in the business of using atomic bombs.
"What do the imperialists say? That Ahmadinejad is here because we are making the atomic bomb here too," Chavez said.
"They're the ones with the atomic bombs, and remember the Yankee imperialists dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki," he added, referring to the bombings of Japanese cities that ended World War II.
Following Chavez's comments, Ahmadinejad presented a silver box containing a microscope.
"Well, I want to show one of those atomic bombs," Ahmadinejad said. "Like my dear brother Chavez says, the imperialists are annoyed because we have done this, this that I am showing you now. They don't want countries like Venezuela or Iran to make something like this. I just want to show it to you, it is a highly advanced piece of machinery for health (services) for humans and it is at the service of science and helps in the investigations of biotechnology which is in the service of curing diseases."
OPEC members Venezuela and Iran have grown much closer in recent years. Chavez supports Ahmadinejad's controversial nuclear program, while Iran is helping Venezuela map uranium deposits.
The two leaders signed a raft of business and industrial agreements relating to 129 joint projects that Chavez said ranged from assembling bikes and producing car-parts, to processing milk and building houses.
Ahmadinejad clinched a second term after a disputed June election brought the worst unrest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution and a heavy-handed clampdown on opponents.
His trips to left-leaning Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela this week have helped cement ties with countries that back Iran's right to develop atomic power for peaceful purposes.
Iran is under pressure to accept a U.N. plan aimed at checking nuclear ambitions which it says are peaceful but the West fears could be intended to create atomic weapons. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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