Jan 9 (Reuters) - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Cuba this week to shore up support from their leftist leaders as tough new Western sanctions target the Islamic Republic's economy.
Here are some key facts about political relations and business ties between Iran and the countries he will visit:
VENEZUELA:
* Chavez's first stop was in fellow OPEC member Venezuela, where he received a warm welcome from its socialist President Hugo Chavez. They have become close ideological and commercial allies in recent years - much to the annoyance of Washington.
* Both men want to weaken U.S. "imperialism" and Chavez supports Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran insists is peaceful. Iran is helping Venezuela map its uranium deposits, although the South American country does not yet mine the mineral.
* Washington slapped limited sanctions on Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA last year after accusing it of illegally sending at least two cargoes of oil products to Iran worth about ${esc.dollar}50 million. But that did nothing to curb PDVSA's oil exports to the United States of almost 1 million barrels a day.
* The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions in 2008 on the subsidiary of an Iranian bank operating in Venezuela. Washington said the bank helped Iran channel money to weapons programs. Iran and Venezuela both denied the charge.
* The two countries' militaries have said that a deal between them includes cooperation on training, but did not give details.
* Venezuelan exports to Iran are just a fraction of its imports from Iran, which in 2009 were worth almost ${esc.dollar}90 million.
* In 2010, Venezuela and Iran agreed to set up a joint development bank with starting capital of ${esc.dollar}200 million.
* The two countries have signed dozens of deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars on paper. Iran has built housing developments, dairies and vehicle factories in Venezuela.
For more details on Iran-Venezuela ties:
ECUADOR:
* Ecuador and Iran have boosted ties since President Rafael Correa, a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy, took office in 2007. Ecuador says the two nations have signed 32 agreements in the past few years to strengthen cooperation in areas including farming, technology, renewable resources and health.
* Ahmadinejad and Correa often give each other strong verbal support, but most of the deals remain only on paper for now.
* When Correa visited Tehran in Sept 2008 he agreed to build an oil refinery and petrochemical plant in the Andean country, with help from Iran and Venezuela. The agreement also covered Iranian training for Ecuadorean oil workers, and cooperation on the maintenance of Ecuador's oil facilities.
* In 2010 the two nations said they would build two hydroelectric plants in Ecuador to produce 100 megawatts. After a visit by senior Iranian officials to Ecuador last year, Iran offered to build a clinic, provide medical training to Ecuadoreans, and export medicines to the country.
* Correa said in Feb 2010 that Ecuador's inclusion on an international list of nations accused of lagging in the fight against money laundering was a hypocritical punishment for his administration's warm ties with Tehran.
* Ahmadinejad offered support to Correa after a violent mutiny by some Ecuadorean police in Sept 2010. He also offered to help with a jungle conservation project.
* Ecuador's government says the two nations have also negotiated investment protection agreements, cooperation between their central banks, and have discussed tax and custom issues in a bid to boost bilateral trade.
NICARAGUA:
* Iran and Nicaragua have forged strong public ties since Ahmadinejad travelled there to congratulate President Daniel Ortega on his return to power in 2007, 20 years after the two countries were embroiled in a Cold War political row.
* Relations between the two nations hit rock bottom in the 1980s when it emerged that officials in U.S. President Ronald Reagan's administration channeled cash from arms sales to Iran to right-wing Contra rebels pitted against Ortega's leftist Sandinistas during his first stint in the presidency.
* Iran has pledged to boost economic cooperation with Nicaragua, one of the poorest nations in Latin America, promising to help fund a new ${esc.dollar}350 million ocean port, build houses and assist with an ambitious hydroelectric project. But little of this has been realized so far.
* Nicaragua has been able to fund social problems with oil money from Chavez's Venezuela.
CUBA:
* Iran and Cuba are two of the four countries on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorism sponsoring countries, with the other two being Syria and Sudan.
* Relations between Iran and Cuba have grown more active in the past decade, with Iran granting almost ${esc.dollar}700 million in credits to the Caribbean island.
* Cuba lent its expertise to the construction of biotechnology research and production center in Iran that has occasionally been accused by Cuba's opponents of having links to biological weapons. The allegations have been denied and never substantiated.
* Cuba has not used much of the credit line, but bought 750 train cars from Iran to help refurbish its badly deteriorated train system. Total trade between the two countries in 2009, the last year for which numbers are available, was ${esc.dollar}27 million, according to the Cuban government.
* Cuba has expressed support for Iran's nuclear program and defended its right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has predicted that Iran's nuclear activities will lead to an attack by Israel and the United States and a nuclear war.
(Reporting by Daniel Wallis in Caracas, Eduardo Garcia in Quito, Dave Graham in Mexico City and Jeff Franks in Havana; Editing by Kieran Murray)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
