The Bolivian government announced last week it is re-launching an effort to explore for uranium within its territory. The announcement comes at a time when international pariah Iran has been actively courting relationships with anti-American governments in the Western Hemisphere, principally Bolivia and Venezuela, which is also known for its reserves of the radioactive mineral essential for the development of nuclear power.

Many experts see Iran not only in a desperate drive to secure political support in international fora to ward off economic sanctions for its refusal to account fully for its developing nuclear program, but also to find new sources of trade and imports in the event of more economic pressure.

Last year, a secret Israeli government report charged that both Bolivia and Venezuelan are already supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program, but the Morales government dismissed the allegation.

What is undeniable is the existence of potentially significant uranium deposits in Bolivia. In 2006, the Canadian company Mega Uranium signed a deal to conduct exploration work in Bolivia and reported that in one area, a 46-square-mile zone in the eastern lowland region of Santa Cruz, the uranium mining potential compares with that in the Athabaska Basin in Canada and the Pine Creek area of Australia.