Iran and Zimbabwe ”think alike” and ”should fight against Western superpowers and their evil systems”, President Robert Mugabe was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
The Zimbabwean leader, who is on a four-day state visit to Iran aimed at bolstering political and business ties, said his country and Iran had to come together and work out ”mechanisms for defending ourselves”, according to Zimbabwe’s state-controlled Herald newspaper.
Iran and Zimbabwe have been labelled ”outposts of tyranny” by United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
But Mugabe — who proudly describes Iran as a great friend — dismissed the accusation, saying that ”only God can judge”.
”Some people who regard themselves as demigods say we belong to the axis of evil. Who are they to judge us?” Mugabe asked shortly before holding closed-door talks with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday.
State media in Zimbabwe say that the Southern African country and Iran are both being vilified by Britain and the US, Zimbabwe because of its controversial land-reform programme and Iran because of its nuclear-enrichment programme.
The defiant Zimbabwean president said Iran and Zimbabwe had to put up a fight against US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whom he described as evil men, according to the Herald.
In 2000 Zimbabwe launched a controversial programme of seizing white-owned farms for redistribution to new black farmers. The programme has slashed agricultural production, plunging Zimbabwe into its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980.
Zimbabwe’s Mugabe has been urging his countrymen to look at alternative markets for Zimbabwean products as his government becomes increasingly isolated from former Western trading partners.
Britain, the US and the European Union have all imposed travel restrictions on Mugabe and his associates as well as an arms embargo over perceived rights abuses and unfair elections.
Western countries accuse Iran of wanting to enrich uranium to produce material for nuclear weapons, but Teheran insists the programme is purely for energy purposes.
Speaking on Monday, the Iranian leader described Mugabe as a prominent, influential and just leader, a person who loves freedom, a freedom fighter, the Herald said.
”We do not condone US and British hegemony. We have good cooperation to do away with this control,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying before a state banquet hosted in Mugabe’s honour. — Sapa-dpa