Venezuela Considers Fighter Jet Deal With Iran

Venezuela is considering selling its fleet of 21 US-made F-16 fighter jets to another country, perhaps Iran, a Venezuelan military official said today.

The statement is the latest provocation by the government of President Hugo Chávez, whose goading of the Bush administration prompted Washington to place a full arms ban on the country last night.

Today, General Alberto Muller, a senior adviser to Mr Chávez, who has been on a private visit to London this week, told the Associated Press he had recommended to the defence minister that Venezuela consider selling its F-16s to another country.

Gen Muller said he thought it was worthwhile to consider "the feasibility of a negotiation with Iran for the sale of those planes".

Even before the US announced the ban on arms sales yesterday, Washington had stopped selling Venezuela certain upgrades for the F-16s.

Mr Chávez had previously warned he might share the US jets with Cuba if Washington did not supply parts for the planes. He had also said he might look into buying fighter jets from Russia or China instead.

Janelle Hironimus, a state department spokeswoman, said Venezuela had forged close relations with Iran and Cuba, both classified by the US as state sponsors of terrorism. She said: "Venezuela has publicly championed the Iraqi insurgency."

In an interview published in today's Guardian, Mr Chávez said: "Washington has said I am a modern-day Hitler."

He said the Bush administration had accused him of terrorism because it was unhappy with his government's success. "They are very concerned, that is why they say these things."

He brushed aside the arms embargo, saying "this doesn't matter to us at all". Venezuela would not respond with punitive measures against the US, he said. The US was "an irrational empire" that "has a great capacity to do harm".

Among reasons given for the ban, the state department referred to Venezuela's "nearly total lack of cooperation with anti-terrorist efforts over the past year" and claimed that it provided a safe haven for Colombian "narco-terrorists".