Iran Tracker

Nuclear:

Bolivia has publicly supported Iran’s nuclear power program with statements from various government officials. Trade and energy agreements between La Paz and Tehran in September 2007 established the two countries’ recent close relationship and underlined Bolivia’s support for Iran’s nuclear program, with declarations supporting "the rights of developing nations to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes."[1]

In June 2008, Gonzalo Lazcano Murillo, a member of Bolivia’s parliament, claimed that Iran was only developing "peaceful and scientific" civilian nuclear technology. [2]  In September 2008, Bolivia’s president, Juan Evo Morales, told Iran’s Press TV that Bolivia “rejected the intervention of the United Nations Security Council in Iran's nuclear program, saying it ‘lacks any legal or technical justification.’”[3]

In May 2009, the Associated Press published an Israeli intelligence report that Iran was buying uranium from Bolivia and Venezuela, though both Bolivia and Iran denied trading the nuclear fissile material; Bolivian Mining Minister Luis Alberto Echazu responded to the Israeli allegations by claiming that Bolivia does not even produce uranium, let alone export it.[4]

In late May 2009, ynet, an Israeli news website, obtained a detailed dossier drafted by the Israeli Foreign Ministry on Iran’s activities in South America.[5] The report, which is based on information gathered by military and diplomatic sources around the world, both Israeli and foreign, claimed that Iran had begun its infiltration of Latin America as early as 1982.[6] The Foreign Ministry report says, “Since Ahmadinejad’s rise to power, Tehran has been promoting an aggressive policy aimed at bolstering its ties with Latin American countries with the declared goal of ‘bringing America to its knees.’”[7] The report also claimed that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez contributed to the strengthening of ties between Tehran, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua by inviting Ahmadinejad to presidential inauguration ceremonies that were held in these countries.[8] The Ministry also suspects Bolivia of providing Iran with uranium.[9]

Economic Relationship:

Iran and Bolivia recently began pursuing more extensive trade and diplomatic relations, signing a trade and energy agreement in September 2007.[10] Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pledged $1 billion in aid to Bolivia during his visit to the country,[11] after which President Morales said that Bolivia relied on Iran’s help in industry, production, and capital investment.[12] Iranian investment in industrial projects in Bolivia includes dairy factories and agriculture mining and hydroelectric dams, and scholarships funding study in Iran for Bolivian students.[13] Iran has also sent a number of delegations to Bolivia to help with mining and joint industrial projects.[14] After the US suspended its tax-exempt privileges in December 2008 for failing to meet anti-narcotic requirements, Morales said he would seek alternative markets in Iran and China.[15] In May 2009, the Iranian head of the Iran-Bolivia Parliamentary Friendship Group, Arsalan Fathi-Pour, told Bolivian Minister of Rural Development and Lands Julia Ramos Sanchez that Iran is ready to transfer its knowledge of development and agriculture to Bolivia.[16] In addition to smaller industrial projects, Iran has begun to help Bolivia develop its gas industry: although Bolivia possesses the largest gas reserves in Latin America, it has failed to tap its energy trade potential. [17] According to a January 2009 statement by President Morales, Tehran will expand its role in Bolivian media by financing the creation of a state-run television station.[18]

Beyond unilateral investment in Bolivia, Iran has cooperated in several joint ventures with Bolivia’s powerful neighbor, Venezuela, providing, for example, a $230 million loan to help Bolivia establish a cement company.[19]

In October 2009, Venezuelan First Secretary for Energy Affairs in Venezuela’s Tehran embassy, Louis Mayta, stated that “Iran and Venezuela are establishing an oil company named Beniroug which allows us to make investments and activities [sic] in other countries, including Cuba, Sudan, China and Bolivia.”[20] Spain helped mediate difficulties in Beniroug’s registration process and will host the company’s headquarters.[21] Mayta said that the deal is on daily supplies of 20,000 barrels of gasoline to Iran with the quality at international levels.[22] Based on the founding agreement, Iran will pay the equivalent sum of the barrels of gasoline in the form of investments in Venezuela’s projects by Iranian companies. Beniroug also plans to build a refinery in Syria with the capacity of 140,000 barrels of oil per day.[23]

Military/Diplomatic Relationship:

Iran and Bolivia have deepened their diplomatic relationship since Bolivian President Evo Morales first met Iranian President Ahmadinejad when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez first introduced the two in September 2007.[24] As Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported in June 2008, “President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's last year [2007] visit to Bolivia opened a new chapter in expanding relations between the two countries.”[25] Iran has repeatedly stated that it intends to further its ties with Bolivia and many of its neighbors. In addition, Bolivia has moved its only embassy in the Middle East from Egypt to Iran, and Iran has announced the opening of its new embassy in Bolivia. [26] President Ahmadinejad has paid several more state visits to meet publicly with President Morales since his 2007. [27] Morales has in turn paid several state visits to Tehran and declared his country’s support for Ahmadinejad’s “stance against imperialism.” [28] This support extended to international relations during the conflict in Gaza in January 2009, when Morales expressed his solidarity with Iran in support of Gaza and severed relations with Israel.[29]  In May 2009, Ahmadinejad was scheduled to visit Bolivia as well as Brazil and Venezuela in a large tour of the region, however the trip was canceled just before the Iranian president’s departure, and Ahmadinejad traveled to Syria instead.[30]

In July 2009, the Iranian government agreed to provide $280 million in low-interest loans to Bolivia.[31] The plan came under criticism by several members of the Iranian parliament in August, however, when dissenting MPs claimed that the government had failed to follow constitutional guidelines requiring parliamentary approval.[32]

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met with his Bolivian counterpart, David Choquehuanca, in August 2009. During Mottaki’s visit to La-Paz, Choquehuanca called on Iran to invest in Bolivia’s technology and industrial sectors.[33]

In November 2009, Ahmadinejad visited Bolivia, Brazil, and Venezuela to try to bolstering political ties with sympathetic governments in an effort to counter international pressure on the Iranian nuclear program.[34] Bolivian President Evo Morales met Ahmadinejad by at the airport in La Paz, and escorted him to the government palace where the two publicly pledged mutual cooperation between Bolivia and Iran.[35]

In December 2009, after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Latin American countries against becoming too closely involved with Iran—saying that it could have diplomatic consequences for them— Chavez responded saying that these remarks were “an overt threat, especially at Venezuela and Bolivia.”[36] The Bolivian Foreign Ministry also voiced criticism for Clinton’s remarks.[37] Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast responded by saying that the comments infringed on accepted diplomatic norms.[38]