Nicaragua's leftist president to visit US foe Iran

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, June 3 (Reuters) Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who has raised eyebrows in Washington by cementing ties with Iran, will visit the Middle Eastern nation this week during a trip to the region.

Foreign Minister Samuel Santos said late yesterday that Ortega would leave today for Iran, Algeria and Libya to forge better links with the countries.

Ortega, a Cold War-era enemy of Washington who is an ally of US antagonist Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, has reached out to Iran since returning as Nicaragua's president earlier this year and has hosted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Managua.

A former Marxist guerrilla who fought US-backed Contra rebels during his 1980s government, Ortega has said Washington cannot stop him forming alliances with anti-US leaders but at the same time is seeking more aid from the United States.

Santos played down any possible negative impact on US-Nicaragua relations from Ortega's visit to Iran, which is at loggerheads with Washington over its atomic program and its detention of American citizens.

''We are not opposed to (Washington) having certain friendships we do not approve of, and they know we have friends they do not like,'' he said.

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