Iran’s Expanding Relations with Latin America

2011 Joint Area Centers Symposium
Session 6: Iran and the Western Hemisphere

"Iran’s Strategy in Latin America"
Manochehr Dorraj (Texas Christian University)

Chair: Andrew Orta (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Iran’s increasing presence in Latin America, a region historically not regarded as a sphere of Iranian influence and a focus of Iranian political and commercial interests, has given rise to much curiosity and speculations regarding Iranian political ambitions in Latin America. While Venezuela under Hugo Chavez remains the central axis of this relationship, Iran has expanded its ties to such populist regimes as Evo Morales of Bolivia, Correa of Ecuador, Ortega of Nicaragua, the Communist government of Castro in Cuba and the social democratic government of Brazil which maintains friendly relationship with the United States. Iran has also trade relationship with such US allies as Mexico and Argentina. This trans-continental relationship has been the target of much media fan fare and sensational journalism as of late. In this paper, we propose to dissect the roots of Iran’s interest in Latin America and present an analysis of its current dynamics and the future prospects. The paper also expounds on the impact of this relationship on US-Iran and US- Latin America bilateral relations.