BEIRUT, Lebanon — Iran has launched a Spanish-language TV channel called “HispanTV,” the BBC reported.

“Viva la Paz! Viva el Pueblo! Viva America Latina!" Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in Spanish at the end of his introduction of the broadcast. The channel has been test-broadcasting inside Iran since last year, and will now broadcast 24/7.

Iran has close ties to Latin America, particularly Venezuela and Cuba. Ahmadinejad recently returned from a trip to Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, and Nicaragua.

But the Iranian government's other foreign news ventures have been criticized for a lack of objectivity. Press TV, the English-lanugage news channel Tehran funds, lost its British broadcasting license earlier this month because of accusations the Iranian government compromised its editorial independence. Iran also operates channels in other languages, including Al Alam in Arabic, the Associated Press reported.

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