Uruguay-Iran Foreign Relations

Economic Relationship:

Uruguay and Iran have a good bilateral trade relationship, as Uruguay has been an important contributor to Iran’s recent increase in trade relations with Latin America.  Uruguay is a major supplier of rice, wool, skins, and occasionally beef to Iranian markets.[1] 

In late May 2009, Israeli news website Ynet obtained a detailed dossier drafted by the Israeli Foreign Ministry on Iran’s activities in South America.[2] The report, which is based on information gathered by Israeli and foreign military and diplomatic sources around the world, claimed that Iran had begun building friendships in Latin America as early as 1982.[3] The Foreign Ministry report claimed that particularly “since Ahmadinejad’s rise to power, Tehran has been promoting an aggressive policy aimed at bolstering its ties with Latin American countries with the declared goal of ‘bringing America to its knees.’”[4] The Ministry also detailed the economic ties between Tehran and South America.[5] According to the report, Uruguay sells $100 million worth of rice to Iran.[6]

In late February 2010, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began a tour of Latin American that included the countries Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. A week before her departure Clinton announced, “I’m on my way to Latin America next week. And Iran is at the top of my agenda.”[7]