Under pressure at home and facing a fresh wave of economic sanctions, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is seeking the company of friends — in Latin America.

Starting Sunday, Ahmadinejad will be on a four nation tour that includes U.S. antagonists such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador.

The trip comes as the United States and the European Union are turning the screws on Iran in hopes of forcing it to halt its nuclear program. Iran insists its aims are peaceful, but many fear the regime has military ambitions. The sanctions come as Ahmadinejad’s party is facing parliamentary elections — the first vote since the 2009 presidential race that led to bloody protests.

“As responsible nations toughen sanctions on Iran and the regime becomes increasingly isolated, it makes sense that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would seek a helping hand from fellow dictators and human rights abusers,” said U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, who has dubbed the visit the “Tour of Tyrants.”

Ros-Lehtinen, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has called for secret briefings later this month to evaluate the administration’s response to Iran’s growing influence in the region.

Iraj Milani, the deputy in charge of the Iranian Embassy in Colombia, said the trip is designed to boost bilateral trade and find new opportunities for Iranian construction companies that have an expertise in tunnel and dam building. It comes as Iran’s incipient trade in the region is surging, and the country is rolling out new embassies.

“Our government is simply trying to diversify its trading partners and promote more ‘South-South’ collaboration,” he said. And Ahmadinejad is eager to promote regional unity among “nationalistic” leaders like Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and Ecuador’s Rafael Correa.

“But the United States is worried about this ongoing integration because it’s not in their strategic interests,” he said. “And it’s taking place in a region that they have always considered their backyard.”

The itinerary seems as much about provocation as business, said Stephen Johnson, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., and the author of an upcoming report about Iran’s Influence in the region.

“In Latin America, [Iran] is obviously trying to be a thorn in the side of the United States,” he said. While Iran is investing heavily in Latin America, it’s unclear what the economic benefits are, he said. And Iran’s own media have questioned some of the deals.

“It seems the real target is the broader international audience,” Johnson said, “and to make it look like Iran is having an influence in the United States’ own neighborhood, as much as the U.S. is an influence in the Middle East.”

Some see hypocrisy in the U.S. rhetoric. Correa told The Miami Herald in a recent interview that he faced a barrage of criticism when Iran opened an embassy in Ecuador , but U.S. ally Colombia has “always had an Iranian embassy and the United States has never said anything.”

Likewise, Iran’s biggest trade partners — the European Union buys 90 percent of Iran’s exports — aren’t chastised, “but when we want to talk to Iran they call us terrorists, accuse us of money laundering and say that we’re now part of the Axis of Evil,” he said.