Iran's tropical toehold

Fidel Castro and his brother Raul have hung a new "For Rent" sign on "their" island, and it looks like Iran may soon move in. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Holocaust-denying president of Iran, recently visited to take a look at the Castros' socialist paradise.

Given the support both nations have provided to international terrorists, the Iran-Cuba connection can only be viewed ominously. It would likely prolong the life of the appalling Cuban regime while giving Iran, which is preparing to field nuclear-tipped missiles within the next few years, a possible base of operations against the United States.

Cuba needs a new tenant that will, like the former Soviet Union, give it highly favorable terms of trade for its exports. In 1960 Fidel struck a deal with Moscow providing petroleum in exchange for sugar, and that deal, through ups and downs, kept Cuba's economy above water until 1990.

It also provided a base for Soviet military activities that almost led to nuclear war in the Cuban missile crisis, 50 years ago.

But the Cuban economy quickly went down when the Soviet Union collapsed, and not even Fidel's friendship with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, access to cheap Venezuelan oil and trading relations with most of the world have helped restore the old order.

The Castros may be willing to risk a new and more effective multinational embargo by trading with Iran, provided they get a good price.

Meanwhile, Iran is looking for trading partners, as it faces broader, tougher Western sanctions. More importantly, like the old Soviet Union, it is seeking points of pressure against the United States.

Mr. Ahmadinejad renewed his connections with other anti-American leaders in Latin America, including Mr. Chavez and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua.

The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., warned recently that the expanding Cuba-Iranian relationship could become a serious a threat to the United States.

Last fall Iran was exposed as plotting to use Mexican drug-cartel help to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington. Iranian intelligence operatives are already based in Venezuela.

Next stop, Havana?