The US expects Venezuela to urge Iran to meet UN resolutions

Western Hemisphere
The United States expects Venezuela to call upon its ally Iran to meet the UN Security Council resolutions regarding the Iranian nuclear program, on Wednesday said Ian Kelly, the spokesman of the US State Department.

"We take any allegation of proliferation very seriously, particularly if it involves proliferation within this hemisphere," said Kelly, AFP reported. Reference was made to the statements of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who said that investigations by his office show that Iran is using Venezuela's established banking network to skirt international sanctions and acquire the materials needed for its nuclear program.

"We are following any kind of links between Venezuela and Iran very seriously," Kelly added during a press briefing.

"We would expect Venezuela, as any other UN member, to fulfill their obligations under the decisions of the UN Security Council to call upon Iran to meet its obligations under various Security Council resolutions relating to Iran," he stressed.

Morgenthau on Tuesday, during a speech at Brookings Institute in Washington, said that "there are reasons to be concerned" about the Iran-Venezuela links.

"My office has been told that that over the past three years a number of Iranian-owned and controlled factories have sprung up in remote and undeveloped parts of Venezuela —ideal locations for the illicit production of weapons," said the Manhattan District Attorney.

"Evidence of the type of activity conducted inside the factories is limited," added Morgenthau, as quoted by The Wall Street Journal.

Morgenthau said one of the reasons to be concerned is an incident in December 2008, when Turkish authorities detained an Iranian vessel bound for Venezuela after discovering lab equipment capable of producing explosives packed inside 22 containers marked "tractor parts."

Morgenthau also cited a report published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in December of last year, according to which Venezuela has an estimated 50,000 tons of unmined uranium. "There is speculation in the Carnegie report that Venezuela could be mining uranium for Iran," he said.