ASSALOUYEH, Iran — The presidents of Iran and Venezuela launched construction of a joint petrochemical plant on Monday, strengthening an ‘axis of unity’ between two oil-rich nations staunchly opposed to the United States. Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who both often rail against Washington, also signed a series of other deals to expand economic cooperation, ranging from setting up a dairy factory in Venezuela to forming an oil company. ‘The two countries will united defeat the imperialism of North America,’ a beaming Chavez told a news conference during an official visit to the Islamic Republic, which the United States has labeled part of an ‘axis of evil’. ‘When I come to Iran Washington gets upset,’ he said. The two presidents — whose countries are members of the OPEC oil producing cartel — earlier attended the ceremony to start building a methanol facility with an annual capacity of 1.65 million tons on the Islamic Republic’s Gulf coast. ‘Iran and Venezuela — the axis of unity,’ read one of many official posters at the site near the port town of Assalouyeh, showing the two leaders hugging each other and shaking hands. Ahmadinejad — who […]