Iran and Venezuela in Love

IRAN, VENEZUELA LAUNCH NEW PETROCHEMICAL COOPERATION...
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on July 2 launched the construction of a joint petrochemical plant in southern Iran's Asaluyeh that is expected to produce an annual 1.65 million tons of methanol, a derivative that can be used as a fuel component or solvent, Reuters reported. The two states will also cooperate to build another methanol production plant in Venezuela, with each plant expected to provide the partner with a foothold into regional markets. Iran and Venezuela would each presumably own part of each facility's production. The Asaluyeh plant is expected to cost some $700 million and take four years to build, the BBC reported. Chavez and Ahmadinejad signed several other deals, including to build a dairy factory in Venezuela and to found a joint oil company, Reuters reported. VS

...DENOUNCE COMMON ENEMY
Presidents Chavez and Ahmadinejad praised each other's administrations at a news conference in Asaluyeh on July 2 and denounced states they said are upset by their friendship, ISNA and IRNA reported. Ahmadinejad said the cooperation and friendship between the two states can foster "peace and brotherhood" in the world, and any state upset by this friendship should "die" of its "grief." Chavez said in turn that "America's terrorism" ignores Iran's ancient civilization and "they want to imply to the world that those who live in Iran are a lot of barbarians," ISNA reported. Chavez said the real savages are those who "threw the atom bomb onto Hiroshima and Nagasaki," adding that "the barbarians are those who have attacked Iraq and created this situation," "started a war" against Palestinians, and those who went to the Americas "and destroyed our culture and civilization," in an apparent reference to the Spanish, Portuguese and British empires. The Western discourse, Chavez said, is based on "selfishness and excessive desires," ISNA reported. VS