Defiant Ahmadinejad wins backing of four LatAm allies

The Iranian leader left Quito aboard an Ecuadoran Air Force plane bound for the southwestern city of Guayaquil from where he was to fly back to his native soil.

In Quito, he defiantly vowed to resist escalating Western pressure to stop his country's alleged efforts to develop atomic weapons.

"They (the West) have decided to step up their pressure on us. They insult our country and our people. It's clear that the Iranian people will resist," he told reporters.

"The international community knows that hegemonic (Western) powers do not support the progress of independent peoples. The Iran problem is not the nuclear program, the Iran problem is the progress and independence," he added.