Chavez and Ahmadinejad Joke About 'Big Atomic Bomb'

Authoritarian allies President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela had a serious diplomatic meeting in Caracas on Monday, but they lightened up the conversation with jokes about having a big atomic bomb at their disposal.

The fiercely anti-American autocrats, who say they are united against Yankee imperialism, also mocked U.S. worries about the strengthening relationship between their two countries.

They accuse us of being warmongers, Chavez said during a joint press conference in Venezuela, according to Reuters. They're the threat.

The Venezuelan leader then pointed towards his opulent Miraflores palace.

That hill will open up and a big atomic bomb will come out, he said, laughing with Ahmadinejad.

Chavez also compared U.S. worries about the nuclear program in Iran to concerns about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The leaders of the two OPEC nations offered each other praise and solidified their strong ties. Despite those arrogant people who do not wish us to be together, we will unite forever, the Iranian president told his Venezuelan counterpart.

Positive relations between the two countries, although on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, go way back. In 2006, Iran honored Chavez with its highest state medal for defending Tehran's nuclear program amid international condemnation, The Associated Press reported.

Iran and Venezuela have worked together on a number of projects, like a joint bank they inaugurated in 2009, but Reuters reports that action usually lags behind rhetoric.

The White House is not laughing. A former advisor to President Obama told BusinessWeek that the president is ready to make a military strike against Iran if he feels there is no other option.