The leaders of Zimbabwe and Iran are looking to form a self-styled “coalition for peace” after receiving a joint tongue-lashing from US President George W. Bush, officials said Wednesday. The government in Harare confirmed President Robert Mugabe and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discussed the formation of such a coalition on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, where Bush delivered a harsh assessment of their regimes on Tuesday. “The United States and its allies are so bloodthirsty they don’t want to see peace anywhere in the world,” deputy information minister Bright Matonga told AFP. “Our leaders are saying there is need for like-minded countries to come together and form a coalition that will discuss constructive developmental issues.” The state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the United Nations, Boniface Chidyausiku, as saying Mugabe and Ahmadinejad discussed “areas of mutual interest” in New York. Isolated by his former allies in the West after being accused of rigging his re-election in 2002, Mugabe has forged new alliances with countries in Asia as well as buttressed ties with traditional US foes such as Cuba and Iran.