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.

Source: Xinhua