[Institute for Counter-Terrorism/IDC Herzliya] Ely Karmon - Since President Ahmadinejad's inauguration in 2005, Iran's foreign policy focus has shifted from Africa to Latin America in order to, as he puts it, "counter lasso" the U.S. Ahmadinejad wants to strike back at the U.S. in its own hemisphere and possibly destabilize U.S.-friendly governments in order to negotiate with Washington from a position of greater strength. Since Ahmadinejad's ascendance to power, he has made three diplomatic tours to Latin America in search of an alliance of "revolutionary countries," visiting Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Bolivia. He has also hosted the leaders of each of these countries and is expecting the visit of Brazil's President Lula da Silva in 2009. The proved Iranian and Hizbullah involvement in the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 people, and the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association, leaving 85 dead, were the worst terrorist attacks on the continent and a bad omen for the future.
2009-04-24 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive