Chavez rejects Clinton's 'threats' on Iran ties

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez rejected Sunday the top US diplomat's "threats" on the consequences of Latin American ties with Iran, blasting Hillary Clinton's remarks as an "imperial offensive."

"Mrs Clinton's statements (are) like a threat above all against Venezuela and Bolivia... They are the clear signs of an imperial offensive seeking to stop the advancement of progressive forces, and regain its back yard," Chavez told reporters in Havana.

The firebrand leftist leader, long a thorn in Washington's side, made his comments at an ALBA summit of leftist Latin American leaders in communist Cuba.

Clinton warned Latin American countries on Friday to "think twice" about fostering ties with Iran because of its alleged support for terror amid the Islamic republic's growing presence and warming relations in the region.

"I think if people want to flirt with Iran, they should take a look at what the consequences might well be for them. And we hope that they will think twice and we will support them if they do," she said during a question-and-answer session at the State Department's public policy forum on Latin America.

"We hope that there will be a recognition that this is the major supporter, promoter and exporter of terrorism in the world today," she added, calling it a "very bad idea for the countries involved" to allow Iran to gain a foothold in the region.

Western powers have been at loggerheads with Iran over its nuclear program for years, claiming Tehran is covering up an effort to develop nuclear weapons, while the Islamic republic claims it is simply developing nuclear energy for peaceful, civilian purposes.

In a sign of Iran's push for closer ties with the mostly leftist governments thriving at the doorstep of the United States, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Venezuela, Bolivia and Brazil last month.

In May, Clinton defended moves by President Barack Obama's administration to engage anti-US leaders in Latin America as a way to check what she called "disturbing" Iranian and Chinese inroads in the region.

Clinton said Obama had to take a new tack after his predecessor George W. Bush's efforts to isolate such leaders had only made them "more negative" toward Washington and more receptive to rival powers.

In "a multipolar world where we are competing for attention and relationships with at least the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians," such countries can fill the void left by the lack of US engagement, she warned at the time.