Latin America has become the battleground for competing Middle East powers, whose leaders are criss-crossing the continent seeking support from an increasingly strategic region.

President Peres of Israel is using the first visit to Brazil by an Israeli head of state in 43 years to urge his hosts to resist the growing influence of Iran and Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia group, in the region.

Mr Peres entreated the Brazilian Government to help to curb the Iranian nuclear programme that Tel Aviv claims is aided by Venezuela. He presented intelligence detailing alleged Hezbollah and Iranian activities in the border region of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

Mr Peres, who will also visit Argentina, is warning that Hezbollah intends to strike Jewish and Israeli targets on the continent, as it did in the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish centre that killed 85 people.

President Ahmadinejad of Iran is planning a similar trip to Brazil and the region this month. Iran has developed strong alliances on the continent with a number of socialist governments, allied to Tehran by their hostility towards America.

Washington is clearly alarmed by Iran’s inroads in the region. Hillary Clinton had barely been sworn in as Secretary of State when she signalled her concern about Tehran’s ambitions, claiming that it was making “disturbing gains” on the continent.

The main focus of concern is Venezuela, where Iran’s critics claim that President Chávez has opened his country’s doors to militants from the Middle East.

Some claims seem hard to believe, such as terrorist camps on the tourist island of Margarita or Venezuelan uranium smuggled to Tehran on commercial flights, or even the use of Iranian bicycle and tractor factories as fronts for nuclear activity.

Mr Chávez has deflected some of the more unlikely allegations with his bombastic wit, recently jibing on his weekly television show that he had taken delivery of his new “atomic bicycle”.

Although Venezuela has extensive uranium resources, experts believe that Caracas is not yet technically competent to extract them. And, they point out, Iran has a healthy supply of uranium on its own soil. What appears more likely is that Iran is helping Venezuela with its own nuclear ambitions. Mr Chávez has made no secret of his desire to establish Venezuela as a nuclear power, though, he insists, for energy purposes only.

Colombia, Washington’s main regional ally, is also concerned, a senior government source recently telling The Times that the Venezuelan-Iranian alliance, particularly on nuclear capacity, was a “serious issue”. Security experts in Bogotá have claimed that Hezbollah is deriving funds from trafficking drugs out of the world’s largest cocaine producer. The importance of Latin America to Iran’s strategic interest was underlined by Mr Ahmadinejad when he boasted before the June elections: “When the Western countries were trying to isolate Iran, we went to the US backyard.”

Ties of concern

Oct 2009 Israeli Navy seizes ship it says was carrying weapons from Iran to Syria, including ammunition boxes with Spanish writing

Sept Venezuelan minister says Tehran and Caracas mapping uranium resources in Venezuela

May Leaked Israeli Foreign Ministry document claims Venezuela and Bolivia supplying Iran with uranium to help it to evade sanctions

May Venezuelan military helicopter crashes inside the country. Iranian news reports claim four members of its Revolutionary Guard were on board, training in the use of night-vision goggles purchased from Venezuela

Dec 2008 Turkish authorities detain an Iranian vessel bound for Venezuela allegedly with equipment capable of producing explosives

Source: Times archive