Iran: Ahmadinejad courts Latin American leaders for anti-Bush front

Tehran, 5 Jan (AKI) - Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has had telephone conversations with Cuba's Fidel Castro, Venezuale's Hugo Chavez and the recently elected Evo Morales of Bolivia in which he told the trio of leftist leaders of the need to build common front to contrast "the bullying of the major powers" the Iranian agency Mehr reports.

In his chat with Fidel Castro, Ahmadinejad thanked Cuba for its support for the nuclear policy of the Islamic Republic, and Castro told him that he did not agree that "great powers should have the monopoly of arms of mass destruction", Mehr reports.

New Bolivian president Evo Morales spoke with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before leaving on an official visit to Spain, and is reported to have invited the Iranian leaders to his swearing in ceremony on 22 January. "It will be an opportunity to study together the creation of a new anti-imperialist front" Morales is quoted as saying.

With Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez, Ahmadinejad reportedly raised the possibility of a summit including Morales "to discuss the various sectors in which the countries could collaborate" including energy, Mehr reports.