In a Radio program broadcast on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad lashed out at critics of his government's foreign policies.

"One of these gentlemen (rival candidates) still cannot understand the world affairs and this is why he asks us why we have focused on Latin America," Ahmadinejad was qouted by press tv as saying.

His remarks were made after presidential hopeful Mir-Hossein Mousavi slammed the Ahmadinejad government's policy of getting closer to Latin American states.

"Instead of investing in Iran's neighboring countries, the government has focused on Latin American states and focused on them. The President has obviously failed to get his priorities right," said Moussavi in his first televised speech.

"When the Western countries were trying to isolate Iran, we went to the US backyard and I even delivered my strongest anti-US speech in Nicaragua," Ahmadinejad hit back at Mousavi.

"Our active presence in Latin America was a very wise move," he added.

Earlier this month, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said that she was "deeply disturbed" by Iran's close relations and growing influence in Latin America, which the US considers as its strategic backyard.

Source:http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8803070140