Ahmadinejad and Chavez taunt US

During an official visit to Latin America, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez mocked US disapproval and joked about having an atom bomb. Ahmadinejad said Monday in Caracas his nation was prepared for "martyrdom" against the United States and its allies but had no aggressive intentions. "We love everyone, including the people of the United States who are suffering under the domination of the arrogant," he said. Chavez said the United States and its "lackeys" sought to paint Iran and Venezuela as aggressors. "They say that we are going to go into the basement of Miraflores and come out with a cannon with missiles because we are going to attack Washington. ... That's practically what they're saying," he said. Chavez, a former career army officer said the two leaders were arming themselves for a conflict but the war was "against poverty, against misery, against hunger, against underdevelopment. That is our war." Ahmadinejad said if Iran and Venezuela were jointly building anything like a bomb, "the fuel of that bomb is love." Ahmadinejad is in Latin America to shore up support from regional leftist leaders as tough new Western sanctions seek to isolate the Islamic republic and target its vital oil exports. He was also to visit Cuba and Ecuador. Europe and Japan have already moved in planning for punitive cuts in oil imports from Iran. A senior official dismissed, for his part,  Western anger at news Tehran is enriching uranium deep underground as cover for ulterior motives. A day after Iran confirmed the start of enrichment at a mountain bunker near the holy city of Qom the European Union brought forward a ministerial meeting that is likely to match new US measures to hamper Iran's oil exports. Japan took precautions in case it joins an international embargo on buying Iranian crude by asking Saudi Arabia and the UAE to help it make up any shortfall.