Venezuela's Chavez denies Iran-Syria weapons connection

AFP on Yahoo ^ | 12/23/08 | AFP

[NormsRevenge]

CARACAS (AFP) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday dismissed as fiction a report alleging that Iran is dodging UN sanctions by using Venezuelan aircraft to ship missile parts to Syria.

"The newspapers of the empire have begun to invent stories that I am sending weapons to Syria from Iran through our airline Conviasa," Chavez said in a speech at the Miraflores presidential palace.

The charges are part of a "permanent aggression" campaign by the "empire," as Chavez often refers to the United States, against Venezuela, he said.

The Italian newspaper La Stampa, citing US and other Western intelligence agencies, reported Sunday that Iran is using Conviasa airplanes to fly computers and engine components to Syria for use in missiles.

Since March 2007, the state-owned Conviasa airline has operated weekly flights from Caracas to Damascus and Tehran.

The material comes from Iranian industrial group Shahid Bagheri, which was sanctioned by UN Security Council Resolution 1737 for involvement in Iran's ballistic missile program, according to La Stampa.

The resolution, adopted in December 2006, instructed all nations to "prevent the supply, sale or transfer" of all material or technology that could serve for Iran's nuclear enrichment program and the development of weapons to carry nuclear warheads.

Syria is a close ally of Iran in the Middle East, and both nations signed a military cooperation pact in June 2006.

[NormsRevenge]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, seen here on December 17, 2008, on Tuesday dismissed as fiction a report alleging that Iran is dodging UN sanctions by using Venezuelan aircraft to ship missile parts to Syria. (AFP/File/Evaristo Sa)

[wolfcreek]

If I had a bullet for every head I’d like to explode......

[alice_in_bubbaland]

By the looks of him, I’d say that your target is getting larger er.......fatter.

Seems that being a lowlife dictator agrees with him.

[kennedy]

Venezuelan spokesman Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf on Tuesday dismissed as fiction a report alleging that Iran is dodging UN sanctions by using Venezuelan aircraft to ship missile parts to Syria.

[WellyP]

“Hogo” is just trying to change the topic! All of his budget is based on $80 USD per barrel oil. Looks like he is coming up a little short!
http://www.bloomberg.com/?b=0&Intro=intro3
19:20 EST 23 Dec. 2008
Oil 38.98 -0.93 -2.33
Gold 838.10 -9.10 -1.07
Natural Gas 5.74 0.44 8.37

OIL PRICES:

http://www.petroleumworld.com/

OPEC Basket $36.92 12/22
Venezuelan Basket: $32.14 12/19
12/23:BRENT IPE $40.36 NYMEX WTI 38.98
12/23: US$/VBOF:Parallel 5.35 buy 5.50 sell*
* Venezuela’s markets close on Monday’s baking holiday
12/23: 1 Euro:1.3936 US dollars (22:52 GMT )

[gargoyle]

...UN sanctions? A vote from Congress for UN sanctions for the POTUS to go to war? I was for the Afghanistan War, but against the Iraq invasion, After a redress of the Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 Paragraph 10-18, I was wrong in my interpretation and arguments to FR respondents...