Iran pledges hydro, houses, port for Nicaragua

MANAGUA, Aug 5 (Reuters) Iran promised to help fund a new 350 million dollars ocean port and build 10,000 houses for the cash-strapped leftist Nicaraguan government, in a deepening of ties with Tehran that worries the United States.

Iran also pledged to choose in November a site for a 120 million dollar hydroelectric project to help Nicaragua overcome a power crisis marked by daily blackouts in the Central American nation.

Despite U.S. warnings, President Daniel Ortega is building alliances with anti-Washington countries such as Venezuela and Iran, which are flush with cash from high world oil prices and eager to win friends in Latin America.

The deep-water port on the Caribbean coast would be a first for Nicaragua. Venezuela would also provide funding for the project, Ortega told a news conference.

''We will work to combine Iranian investment with other friendly countries,'' Ortega said yesterday. ''Venezuela would be ready and willing to take part in an effort like this,'' said Ortega, who spoke with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez two days earlier.

Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla and Cold War veteran who won power for a second time in January, is eager for help to end power blackouts that hurt his popularity.

Ortega met Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian on Wednesday to try to convince Iran to help build several hydroelectric plants in Nicaragua to held end the power crisis.

Iran has committed to just one plant for now.

In return, Nicaragua hopes to increase its farm exports to Iran, mainly coffee, meat and bananas.

Venezuela this year shipped large electricity generators to Nicaragua and these have helped shorten the blackouts.

Ortega also said that he has sought Brazil's aid to end the energy crisis. Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva will visit Nicaragua next week.

The Iranian visit followed Ortega's trip to Tehran in June and a visit to Managua in January by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an archfoe of Washington.

Ortega, who insists he wants good relations with Washington, has also upgraded ties with U.S. enemies Cuba and North Korea since he was sworn in almost 17 years after voters threw him out of office.

The US Embassy in Managua was not immediately available for comment. US officials have said that Iran could be a ''problematic'' partner for Nicaragua.

Reuters PDS VP0552