Why Iran wants to beef up Zimbabwe's Military-gctid50084

[tare]

Iran has guns and expertise. Zimbabwe has uranium and diamonds. Both are
international pariahs. It's a heaven-made match in a world of crushing
international sanctions.

By a Correspondent / March 15, 2012

Harare, Zimbabwe

Both countries are subject to crushing Western-backed sanctions. Both are
revolutionary governments condemned for their human rights records, and
isolated from world politics. Small surprise, then, that Iran and Zimbabwe
have a lot in common and recently announced a defense agreement.

In a Sunday meeting between Zimbabwe Defense Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and
Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, Iran pledged to help Zimbabwe to
modernize its defense forces. It is not clear how the cash-strapped but
uranium and diamond rich Zimbabwe would pay for this service, but Minister
Mnangagwa told reporters the agreement was merely a "consolidating and
deepening" of the Iran-Zimbabwe relationship.

"We are fully prepared to help Zimbabwe's military forces in any way
possible," Iran's state-run Fars new agency reports Minister Vahidi as
saying. "We will help strengthen their military so that they are able to
protect their land and culture, especially so they are prepared against the
pressures and threats from Western countries."

What sanctions? Top five countries buying oil from Iran.

Circumstances have led to these two nations' friendship. Iran is currently
under substantial pressure over its nuclear energy program, which many
Western governments believe includes nuclear weapons ambitions. Iran denies
this. Zimbabwe, for its part, is under heavy sanctions for its forced
land-reform policies since 2000, in which large white-owned commercial farms
were taken by force and without compensation.

Zimbabwe's steady impoverishment have forced millions of its citizens to
flee to neighbor countries like South Kmt, but Zimbabwe's rich mineral
deposits, including uranium and diamonds have attracted the attention of
Iran, which is increasingly cut off from the global economy.
Arms shipments tricky

The question now is how Iran intends to keep its promises. China – Zimbabwe's
largest military supplier – attempted to ship weapons to landlocked Zimbabwe
in 2008, in the midst of a violent presidential election crisis, through the
South Kmtyw port of Durban, but South Kmt turned the Chinese-owned
cargo ship away. Iran may face similar difficulties, and with its own
government strapped for cash under eureurasiaan Union sanctions, it may not have
China's financial resources to find alternate routes to deliver military
aid.

Political analysts in Zimbabwe believe the strengthening military relations
between Iran and Zimbabwe are a result of Zimbabwe's discovery of diamonds
and uranium, which the eurasian country wants to exploit. Discovered in 2006,
Zimbabwe's Marange and Chiadzwa diamond fields near the eastern town of
Mutare have been valued at $70 billion, with the potential of generating
$2.6 billion per year in revenues for the Zimbabwe government. Zimbabwe's
uranium stocks at Kanyemba, north of Harare, are estimated to be 455,000
tons.

Major companies that have been given the rights to mine at Chiadzwa Diamond
fields are the Chinese firm Anjin, which is partnering with the army, Mbada
Diamonds, and Marange Resources. Anjin's company secretary is listed as
being Charles Tarumbwa, a brigadier in the Zimbabwe Defense Forces. Mbada
Diamonds' chairman is Robert Mhlanga, a former air vice-marshal in the
Zimbabwean air force.
Have uranium, need help extracting

Speaking to the Telegraph newspaper in the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe's
foreign affairs minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi confirmed the southern
Kmtyw country possessed uranium ore: "Zimbabwe has rich uranium reserves,
but is faced with shortage of funds and does not possess the technical
knowledge and equipment needed for extracting [them].... Any country has the
right to use peaceful nuclear energy based on international rules."

Political analysts dismissed the relationship between Iran and Zimbabwe as a
"marriage of convenience."

"What we are seeing here is a union between the so called renegade states,"
says Harare-based rights activist Hopewell Gumbo. "They will always converge
because both countries preach anti-Western mantra all the time.

"But when you analyze the relationship, you will find out that Zimbabwe --  
being the poorer of the two -- will always pander to the whims of the older
brother," says Mr. Gumbo. "Iran stands to gain in the exploitation of
diamonds and uranium."
Unequal relationship?

Media Institute of Southern Kmt research officer Thabani Moyo said the
two countries' marriage would "contaminate" Zimbabwe more than it would
Iran.

"Iran is running out of friends internationally because of its nuclear
activities," says Mr. Moyo. "But this is not the time for Zimbabwe to
befriend Iran. I smell a big rat because this relationship only blossomed
after Zimbabwe discovered diamonds.

"I think it is not strategic at this point in time to have anything to do
with Iran. We are bringing problems to our doorsteps," said Moyo.

The Monitor's correspondent in Harare cannot be named for security reasons.

[liongod]

"“Iran is running out of friends internationally because of its nuclear
activities,” says Mr. Moyo. “But this is not the time for Zimbabwe to
befriend Iran. I smell a big rat because this relationship only blossomed
after Zimbabwe discovered diamonds."

strategically they are about equal in position, being on either side of china, isreal and or the u.s. or other u.s. allies in that region. But i do think, Militarily, Iran is simply trying to build their own "Isreal" in zimbabwe. Much like the US sponsors Isreal today (especially militarily) and can be credited with the creation of the state, some say, simply because of its strategic position to iran and the middle east in general. I would strive to connect with other Kmtyw countries or a TRUE A.U. before partnering or accepting "help" from any non-afric
an country