Critical Times

Jubilant supporters greeted Mr Chavez in London
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has warned the US that any attack on Iran will have devastating consequences and send oil prices soaring. Mr Chavez, on a two-day trip to the UK, called for a socialist new world order and said nations were cowards for not standing up to the “American empire”.

The US has not ruled out military action against Iran over its nuclear programme but is pursuing diplomacy. Hundreds of supporters gave Mr Chavez a rapturous welcome in north London.

Packed ballroom

The president told the meeting in Camden, hosted by Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, that a US military attack on Iran would lead to Tehran cutting off its oil supply. “If the United States attacks Iran… oil could reach $100 (£52) a barrel or more,” he said.

“Moreover, Iran has said it would attack Israel, and I know they have the wherewithal to do so. If they (the US) attack Iran I think it’s going to be far worse than what is currently happening in Iraq.”

Hugo Chavez

“This would be a terrible escalation and I do not know where it would end and I do not know who would get out the first nuclear bomb or how many people would die. No-one would be safe from this madness.”

Mr Chavez said the US “doesn’t know what to do” in Iraq, which he called “the Vietnam of the 21st Century”.

Jubilant supporters cheered him, many clad in Venezuela’s red, blue and yellow and banging drums, while hundreds more were left outside the packed ballroom.

Mr Chavez said capitalism was a “destructive” system and that “socialism is the way forward”.

Mr Chavez called unrestricted free trade “a trap by the world’s most powerful so they can keep the weakest in slavery”.

BBC News