BUENOS AIRES, July 3 (RIA Novosti) - During a press conference Tuesday the Venezuelan president, following a two-day visit to Iran, defended Iran's nuclear research, lashing out at the United States, accusing it of consistently trying to destroy Iraq.

Hugo Chavez has continually declared his support for Iran's peaceful nuclear research, which has come under tough international sanctions, as the U.S. and other Western countries suspect the Islamic Republic of pursuing a covert nuclear weapons program, and are demanding a halt to its uranium enrichment.

The Argentinean media cited Chavez as saying that U.S. policy towards Iran is aimed at portraying Iranians as barbarians who are trying to create a nuclear bomb at any cost.

But in actual fact, the barbarians are those who are currently occupying and destroying Iraq, and are trying to wipe the Palestinian people off the face of the earth. The barbarians are Europeans who destroyed the Indian civilization in Latin America, Chavez said.

According to the Venezuelan president, Latin American countries are seeking their own way to develop based on thousands of years of Indian culture, giving up American and European values.

Tehran and Caracas signed a joint declaration on a strategic alliance during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Venezuela last September, and clinched a series of deals on economic cooperation, including in the oil, metallurgical, machine-building, and pharmaceutical industries, as well as on cultural and educational projects.