“Iran, it’s IRGC, and even Hezbollah has a presence in South America, and one of their anchor presence – especially for the Iranians – is inside of Venezuela.”
“Where they have planted their flag in our hemisphere is on Venezuelan territory, with the full and open cooperation of that regime.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (speaking in a Fox News interview broadcast on the 2nd December 2025)
Venezuela the United States, Hezbollah and Iran
Introduction
With the build-up of United States Naval forces off of the coast of Venezuela against what has become a conflict against narco-terrorism there may be other underlying factors to be considered. The US and Venezuela have for sometimes not seen eye-to-eye especially since the ‘Pink Tide’ of socialism took over.
The Pink Tide refers to a widespread political shift in Latin America from the late 1990s into the 2000s, bringing left-leaning governments to power, characterized by social programs, state intervention, and opposition to neoliberalism. These leaders, like Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Brazil's Lula, focused on reducing inequality, increasing national sovereignty, and promoting social inclusion, often funded by high commodity prices. The term means a move towards "softer" left policies (pink) compared to traditional communism (red), challenging US-backed economic models.
The first wave faced challenges from domestic opposition and external pressures.
After a period of conservative governments, a "New Pink Tide" emerged in the late 2010s and early 2020s with new left-wing leaders in countries like Colombia, Chile, and Brazil, facing similar struggles to redefine socialism for the 21st century.
Numerous American presidents have sought to curb narcotics emanating from Venezuela. However, the Trump administration appears to be taking the whole matter a lot more seriously especially with thousands of Venezuelan refugees seeking safety in other Latin America countries as well as the United States.
The U.S. "War on Drugs" in South America involves long-standing efforts to combat drug production and trafficking, notably through programs like Plan Colombia, but has seen evolving strategies, from eradication and interdiction to more recent, controversial escalations under the Trump administration in the mid-2020s, involving military deployments, intelligence operations (like the CIA), and increased rhetoric against cartels, particularly linked to fentany. These actions have faced political tensions, with countries like Venezuela mobilizing their own forces in response.
In August 2025, the US began deploying warships and personnel to the Caribbean, citing the need to combat drug cartels, although most of the fentanyl entering the US is over land via Mexico. On 20 August, Trump ordered three Navy warships to the coast of South America. As of the 29th August, seven US warships, along with one nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, were in and around the Southern Caribbean, bringing along more than 4,500 sailors and marines.
The Central Intelligence Agency joined the military campaign after confirming that it would play a significant role in combating drug cartels, just as it is considering using lethal force against these criminal organizations.
In response to this tension in United States–Venezuela relations, Venezuela said it would mobilize more than four million soldiers in the Bolivarian Militia. On the 26th August, Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino López announced a naval deployment around Venezuela's main oil hub. Maduro said he "would constitutionally declare a republic in arms" if the country were attacked by the US forces deployed in the Caribbean.
Iran Courts Venezuela
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad started a five-day tour of South America on the 8th January 2012. The Iranian President was to visit Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador. The Iranians over past years had been cultivating leftist, popularist and anti-American Latin American leaders. At the time it was thought that Iran was desperate for friends and attempting to find new allies. The trip was to promote economic and geographical agendas.
The Iranians have long detested the American in the Gulf Region and in particular its fifth fleet in Bahrain. They accuse the Americans of upsetting the status quo in the region with their presence whereby in fact they are keeping the peace in and around the Middle East and halting the Iranians from operating in an interfering manner. Maybe someone on the Iranian administration had another thought. If they were able to court and assist failing Latin American governments that were struggling financially due to their socialist ideology, they would welcome another power to assist them in finance and commerce thus paving the way for other reasons.
The Iranians would then be able to pressurize the Americans by having a large presence in the south of the United States and therefore reversing the difficulty that the Iranians felt in the Gulf Region with the presence of the American Fifth Fleet.
Not all the South American countries would welcome a continued presence of Iranians living in their country as some would like, at some point, to renew diplomacy with their northern neighbours. But, for Iran it would worth a chance of attempting to put the Americans in a different think zone. The Iranians along with Hezbollah would be able to break their international isolation, gain access to valuable resources, undermine the United States in the region and establish a new platform to continue their war with the U.S.
In October 2011 many Americans were shocked to find out that a dual national Iranian-American was acting on the behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force involved in a plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabia Ambassador in Washington. The individual also had links to Mexican drug cartels. Iran and Hezbollah already had ties to Mexican drug alliances and were involved in people and drug smuggling into the United States. Hezbollah had been teaching drug cartels how to use Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) and the use of Vehicle Bourne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIED) to great effect and the Hezbollah knowledge in building underground tunnels across the border. Both the drug cartels and the Iranians benefit from the relationship.
Iran and Hezbollah have been trafficking illegal immigrants into the United States through Mexico which could be used to set up sleeper cells. In the event of a major conflict between the two countries these sleeper cells would be activated to create damage and give Americans a doubt as to the government being able to protect them on their home turf.
Iran continued to apply weight on the southern area of the Americas. Venezuela opened its doors to the Iranians with regular flights to its country directly from Iran, opening a supermarket and enticing the Venezuelan government with the idea of purchasing missiles. Iranian naval fleets making regular trips to the South American port by the Iranian navy would definitely give the Americans another perspective to look at.
These moves by Iran would give the United States another challenging approach to consider should America consider attacking the Iranians in the future. Venezuela is the hub of the Iranian development and advancement in the southern hemisphere and would no doubt escalate and expand in the future. The Iranians already use South America to launder money in some cases using the United States to do so.
Venezuelan Presidency
Hugo Chávez served as president from 1999 until his death on the 5th March 2013. Nicolás Maduro Moros, who had been serving as vice president, became the interim president following Chávez's death and was subsequently elected to the position in a special election in April 2013. Nicolás Maduro rose to prominence under the leadership of left-wing President Hugo Chávez and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
Maduro has ruled by decree for the majority of his presidency. Rule by decree is a style of governance allowing quick, unchallenged promulgation of law by a single person or group of people, usually without legislative approval. Rule by decree is often a key feature of dictatorships. Governments often issue decrees in order to bypass the conventional means of making laws.
The U.S. Department of State on the 7th August 2025 offered a $50 million reward for Maduro’s arrest and/or conviction. The State Department detailed: Maduro helped manage and ultimately lead the Cartel of the Suns, a Venezuelan drug-trafficking organization comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials. As he gained power in Venezuela, Maduro participated in a corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Maduro negotiated multi-ton shipments of FARC-produced cocaine; directed the Cartel of the Suns (Cartel de los Soles) to provide military-grade weapons to the FARC; coordinated with narcotics traffickers in Honduras and other countries to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking; and solicited assistance from FARC leadership in training an unsanctioned militia group that functioned, in essence, as an armed forces unit for the Cartel of the Suns.
In March 2020, Maduro was charged in the Southern District of New York for narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
In 2019, the National Assembly of Venezuela invoked the Venezuelan constitution and declared that Maduro had usurped power and was not the president of Venezuela. Since 2019, more than 50 countries, including the United States, have refused to recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s head of state.
Major Terrorist Incidents
Masih Alinejad fled from Iran in 2009 following presidential elections and a government crackdown. Alinejad lives in Brooklyn and has family still in Iran but is now a U.S. citizen, and a longtime critic of the Iranian government. She was a journalist in her native Iran for several years until she fled the country.
She has continued to work as a journalist with her Voice of America Persian show in the U.S. Alinejad also organizes "White Wednesday" and "My Stealthy Freedom" campaigns where women film themselves without head coverings, or hijabs, in public in Iran — in a challenge to the nation's government.
It was announced in July 2021 in a 43-page indictment unsealed on the 13th July 2021 detailing the plan by an Iranian intelligence official and his three assets to track a Brooklyn-based journalist with the goal of bringing her back to Iran.
Members of the Iranian intelligence was exploring ways to spirit the journalist from her home in Brooklyn and take her by speedboat out to sea, and then to Venezuela, which maintains friendly ties with Tehran.
The speedboat scheme appears to have been considered only after the failure of efforts to persuade the target’s family to lure her to a third country in the Middle East, from where she would have been seized by Iranian agents, a technique used by Tehran in two other incidents.
“About eight months or so ago, the FBI warned me that there was a plot against me,” Alinejad said. “I said that’s not exactly news, I get death threats daily. The next thing is that the FBI tell me that I’m being targeted, that I am under photo and video surveillance in an operation by the intelligence ministry.
According to the US charges, the plot to abduct Alinejad was part of a broader kidnapping campaign developed by the Iranian intelligence ministry, with intended targets in Canada, the UK and the UAE.
Iran's government said the allegations were "ridiculous and baseless". Terms used when Iran has been caught with their hand in the biscuit tin.
A second attempt was made against Alinejad in late July 2022, a hitman was standing on the front porch of her home in Brooklyn, New York. The man, bearded and wearing a black T-shirt and baggy black shorts, had allegedly been hired as part of a plot hatched in Iran to assassinate Alinejad.
When she didn’t answer the door, the suspect returned to his car and drove off, running a stop sign near her house. The police pulled him over and found an AK-47-style rifle in the back seat of his car. He was arrested, and from there the FBI unravelled what prosecutors say was a murder-for-hire scheme directed from Iran to assassinate Alinejad.
Argentina Terrorist Attack
The Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina is a Jewish Community Centre located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Translated it is Argentine Israelite Mutual Association a Jewish Community Centre.
A suicide attack, a Vehicle Bourne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) was driven into the AMIA building and subsequently detonated, killing 85 people and injuring over 300 on the 18th July 1994. To date, the bombing remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentine history.
In 1994, Argentina was home to a Jewish community of 200,000, making it the largest in Latin America and the sixth-largest in the world outside of Israel.
The bombing came two years after the 17th March 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires which killed 29 and wounded 242, and was Argentina's deadliest attack until the AMIA bombing. The Islamic Jihad Organization, which according to Robert Baer operates under the umbrella of Hezbollah and was linked to Iran, claimed responsibility for that bombing.
On the 27th January 2013, the Government of Argentina announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran to establish a "truth commission" to investigate the AMIA bombing.
It was announced on the 12th April 2024 in the Guardian that a new ruling by Argentina’s highest criminal court had blamed Iran for the fatal 1994 attack against a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, declaring it a “crime against humanity” in a decision that paves the way for victims to seek justice.
Argentina’s judiciary has long maintained Iran was behind the attack, but joint investigations and Interpol arrest warrants have led nowhere. Iran has refused to turn over citizens convicted in Argentina and denied any involvement.
Argentina in April 2024 had asked Interpol to issue an arrest notice for the Iranian interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi. Argentina has in the past accused Mr Vahidi, who led the overseas operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (ICRGC) at the time of the attack, of being one of the masterminds behind the bombing.
On the 10th April 2025 the Argentinian Prosecutor Sebastián Basso, who replaced the late Alberto Nisman, asked federal judge Daniel Rafecas to issue national and international arrest warrants for the Iranian Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei, according to the Argentine paper Clarin.
Basso also requested the application of trial in absentia for the remaining Iranian and Lebanese suspects named in the case.
Some of the high-level officials accused in the bombing case include former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has since died, then-Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, and former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian.
Others include former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaee, former Quds Force commander Ahmad Vahidi, former Iranian diplomat Ahmad Reza Asghari, former cultural attaché Mohsen Rabbani, and Imad Mughniyeh, the late Hezbollah operations chief.
The move follows the passage of a law promoted by President Javier Milei, allowing trials in absentia in cases involving grave crimes.
President Javier Milei blamed the “fanatical government of Iran” for the bombing and linked the 1994 attack to the 7th October 2023, assault by Hamas on Israel. “The terrorism of that tragic 7th October is exactly the same terrorism that attacked us 30 years ago.”
On the 15th April 2025, Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called in Jorge Mariano Jordan, Argentina’s chargé d'affaires in Tehran, to express Tehran's firm objection to a decision by Argentine prosecutor Sebastián Basso, who issued arrest warrants for several high-ranking Iranian officials in connection with the bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires.
In a statement released on the 16th April 2025, Iran's Foreign Ministry stated: "In response to the unlawful and internationally improper actions taken by the Argentine Prosecutor’s Office, the chargé d'affaires of Argentina in Tehran was summoned by Issa Kameli, Director General for the Americas at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kameli delivered the Islamic Republic of Iran’s official protest note to the Argentine diplomat."
During the meeting with the Argentine diplomat, Kameli firmly rejected the accusations made by the Argentine judiciary. He denounced the charges as baseless and asserted that they represented a significant deviation from the prolonged and unresolved judicial process related to the bombing. He further pointed out that the blame placed on Iran only served to deepen the ambiguities surrounding the case—ambiguities that have long been exacerbated by external influences, particularly those associated with the Zionist regime, which has used the case for its political advantage.
Iran uses the word “baseless” when it has been caught with its hand in the sweet jar.
While Argentine courts have focused on Iran and Hezbollah for the 1990s attacks, Venezuela entered the conversation in the context of ongoing Iranian influence in the region.
Some reports and political figures have alleged that former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez brokered a deal in which Iran financed a past Argentine presidential campaign in exchange for Argentina dropping its investigation into the bombings.
In June 2022, an incident involving a Venezuelan-operated cargo plane (Emtrasur, a subsidiary of a U.S.-sanctioned Venezuelan airline) grounded in Buenos Aires drew significant international attention. The plane had a mixed Venezuelan and Iranian crew, some of whom were suspected of having ties to Iran's Quds Force (the overseas branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S.). While no evidence of chargeable crimes was found regarding that specific flight, the incident highlighted persistent concerns about Venezuela potentially serving as a hub for Iranian activity in Latin America.
Argentina and Hamas
Argentina officially designated Hamas as an international terrorist organization and ordered the freezing of its financial assets in July 2024. President Javier Milei announced the decision, making Argentina the first country in Latin America to take this step.
The decision was based on attacks on the 7th October 2023 against Israel, in which seven Argentine citizens died and others were taken hostage; Hamas's links with Iran, which the Argentine justice system holds responsible for the terrorist attacks against the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 and the AMIA in 1994, the deadliest attacks in the country's history.
Russia Adds to the Mix
On the 10th December 2018 open-source networks reported that Russia had sent two nuclear-capable bombers to Venezuela. A deployment that came amid soaring Russia-U.S. tensions.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said a pair Tu-160 bombers landed at Maiquetia airport outside Caracas, Venezuela’s capital following a 10,000-kilometer (6,200-mile) flight. It didn’t say if the bombers were carrying any weapons and didn’t say how long they will stay in Venezuela.
The Tu-160 is capable of carrying conventional or nuclear-tipped cruise missiles with a range of 5,500 kilometres (3,410 miles). Such bombers took part in Russia's campaign in Syria, where they launched conventionally-armed Kh-101 cruise missiles for the first time in combat.
The bombers' deployment followed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's visit to Moscow in a bid to shore up political and economic assistance even as his country was struggling to pay billions of dollars owed to Russia. Russia is a major political ally of Venezuela.
Venezuela and Hezbollah Connection
Marzia Giambertoni of the RAND Corportaion explained; Hezbollah's Latin American footprint is neither new nor theoretical. The organization has maintained a presence in the region since the early 1980s, establishing networks that span at least 12 countries from Mexico to Argentina. Their composition—a complex web of direct operatives, ideological supporters, opportunistic criminal partners, and diaspora community members with varying degrees of organizational connection—makes these networks particularly challenging to counter.
Atlantic Council 7th October 2020. The Maduro-Hezbollah Nexus: How Iran-backed Networks Prop up the Venezuelan Regime.
Hezbollah is responsible for carrying out terrorist attacks in Israel, Lebanon, Kuwait, Argentina, Panama, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Bulgaria. In Latin America, it is infamously known for the bombings of the Israeli embassy in 1992 and the Association Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) Jewish community centre in 1994, both in Buenos Aires, collectively killing one hundred and fourteen people and injuring hundreds more. The AMIA attack shocked many counterterrorism analysts at the time because it was the first terrorist attack by Hezbollah outside of Lebanon or the Middle East. The long arm of Iran and Hezbollah’s terror networks is also suspected of downing the Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901 in Panama the day after the 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires, killing all twenty-one passengers aboard.
The Hezbollah terror network that moved from Lebanon to Colombia to the Tri-Border Area, between Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina—to carry out the 1994 AMIA attack—is still active today. The work of the late Argentine special prosecutor Alberto Nisman ensured that Latin America remembers this fact. Since the AMIA attack, Hezbollah’s External Security Organization (ESO) or “Unit 910,” responsible for its extraterritorial operations, has successfully co-opted many Lebanese families throughout Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean.
Throughout the years, Hezbollah’s ESO has morphed from merely a terrorist network in Latin America to engage in the region’s most lucrative illicit enterprise: narcotics. Of the more than two thousand individuals and entities around the world designated by the US government as foreign narcotics kingpins, almost two hundred are affiliated with or connected to Hezbollah.
Hezbollah's criminal activities in Venezuela primarily involve drug trafficking, money laundering, and arms smuggling, often with the complicity and embedded support of high-ranking officials within the Venezuelan government. These activities leverage a strategic alliance between Iran, Hezbollah, and the Maduro regime.
Key criminal activities include:
Drug Trafficking: Hezbollah operatives are heavily involved in the cocaine trade, moving large shipments through Venezuela via maritime routes and clandestine airstrips, often in partnership with transnational criminal organizations like the FARC in Colombia and Mexican cartels.
Money Laundering: The organization uses sophisticated networks, including the Venezuelan banking sector and a free trade zone on Margarita Island, to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit proceeds, often through businesses like used car sales and casinos.
Document Fraud: Networks linked to Hezbollah participate in large-scale operations to produce falsified travel and identification documents (passports, national ID cards), which enables operatives to travel undetected across borders.
Arms Smuggling: Hezbollah has been linked to the illegal procurement and smuggling of weapons, which are then used to support their operations and those of their allies in the region.
Other Illicit Financing: The group also generates funds through oil smuggling, black market currency exchange, counterfeiting goods and currency, and illegal mining.
These activities are facilitated by a political environment of corruption and an "ungoverned space" that the Venezuelan government has allowed to flourish, with some Hezbollah-linked individuals holding positions within the state security apparatus. U.S. authorities have sanctioned numerous individuals and entities in Latin America for their roles in these financial networks, including former Venezuelan officials.
Largely driven by narcotics trafficking, Hezbollah operatives can largely move to and from Venezuela discretely and many have roots in Venezuela's sizable Lebanese community. Embedded within Maduro's security apparatus and intelligence network, Hezbollah-linked agents and operatives launder money for the Iranian-backed terrorist organization and its sponsors in Tehran.
This clandestine foothold in Venezuela provides Iran and Hezbollah with closer access to the U.S. homeland as well as potential soft military targets in the Western hemisphere.
Hezbollah and Drugs
Hezbollah is estimated to make hundreds of millions of dollars annually from its involvement in the Latin American drug trade, including operations linked to Venezuela, with some sources citing figures up to $400 million or more a year from narcotics globally. Specific amounts directly attributable only to activities within Venezuela are difficult to isolate, but estimates for the Venezuela-linked trade suggest figures potentially in the $300–$500 million range annually.
Since Hezbollah’s war with Israel (8th October 2023 – 27th November 2024) and more importantly the fall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad (December 2024) Hezbollah has had problems rebuilding itself after a major defeat by Israel. Iran is having a much harder time getting money to Hezbollah in a timely manner.
Matthew Levitt (Fromer-Wexler Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of its Jeanette and Eli Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence) said, “Hezbollah has a long history of turning to its diaspora networks when it’s facing financial stress.”
U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate International Narcotics Control Caucus, said the group “is one of Iran’s tools to destabilize and terrorize,” adding that “if we target Hezbollah’s financing, we can deny them the opportunity to rebuild.”
The Ayman Joumaa network – which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) exposed in 2011 and Treasury linked to Hezbollah in 2012 – was laundering up to $200 million a month for Mexican and Colombian cartels. Joumaa, according to the DEA, took a hefty 8-14% commission for his services. Assuming the 2018 estimates are correct, the Joumaa operation alone would have generated at least two-thirds of Hezbollah’s annual revenue from illicit activities. And while Joumaa’s operation was eventually disrupted, his complex scheme to launder drug proceeds continued to operate long after sanctions and indictments were made public.
Joumaa’s money laundering organization was not the only game in town. The DEA estimated Hezbollah’s proceeds from drug trafficking alone to have been higher than the overall U.S. estimate of its global fundraising efforts. A 2016 DEA affidavit filed with a Florida court in a Hezbollah money laundering case put the value of Hezbollah’s annual proceeds from narcotics at $400 million – and even that might now be a conservative estimate.
Moreover, the illicit global narcotics trade isn’t Hezbollah’s only source of revenue. Hezbollah plays a large part in the illicit economy of the Tri-Border region of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, which is said to generate at least $5 billion a year in illicit transactions. The group likewise helps Venezuela’s regime launder money through multiple way points, and it runs several fraudulent schemes in West Africa.
Iran provides substantial funding to Hezbollah, with estimates suggesting Iran funnelled over $700 million annually to the group around 2020, contributing significantly to its estimated $1 billion annual budget, while the rest comes from illicit activities and control over Lebanese state resources. This support includes arms, training, and direct cash transfers, though exact figures fluctuate yearly.
With Iran being strictly handicapped in providing funds to Hezbollah its drug trade in Venezuela and other Latin American countries is of great use to the group to fund its war against Israel. Cut this form revenue off or severely reduce it and it would cause Hezbollah to scale back its war against Israel and the money for its supporters in Lebanon.
The Islamic Republic of Iran and Latin America
Iran's key allies in South America and the broader Latin American region include Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, and Nicaragua, forming a bloc often united by anti-US sentiment and economic cooperation, with Iran providing military tech (drones), training, and trade in areas like oil, biotech, and cyber security, while leveraging cultural centres and media (like HispanTV) to expand influence against Western hegemony.
Iran provides military technology (drones) and training, particularly to Bolivia and Venezuela, while boosting trade in sectors like energy and technology.
LTG Raymond Palumbo, USA (ret) and Yoni Tobin who is a senior policy analyst at Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) explained in August 2025 that the Iran-Venezuela strategic partnership has matured into a robust, multi-dimensional alliance, impacting both regional security and US foreign policy calculations. Iran and Venezuela’s cooperation span’s the social, political, diplomatic, economic, and military domains — and is directly influencing the US posture toward Venezuela, including the recent military buildup near its shores and targeted strikes on drug trafficking operations.
Iran has used this leverage to establish a robust foothold in Latin America, constructing a dense network involving both direct state-to-state links and the integration of proxy actors like Hezbollah. The bilateral relationship has been solidified by defence pacts, including a 20-year agreement signed in 2022, and joint manufacturing of Iranian drones and weapons on Venezuelan soil, including potential deployments of loitering munitions and jamming devices.
Venezuela has long served as a launchpad for Iranian operations to establish a foothold in South America. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) its Quds Force and Iran’s Intelligence Ministry have all had a presence in Venezuela. The Quds Force has used economic delegations to Venezuela and other countries around the world as cover for terrorist activity. The Quds Force Unit 840 which plots terror schemes abroad has historically been active in Venezuela.
From an article in the Defencenet.com (19th September 2009) which states the interests, which lie behind Iran 's desire to strengthen relations with Latin America, are:
i) To improve Iran 's strategic position vis-à-vis the United States by posing a potential threat and creating a kind of balance of power which will challenge America by collaborating with revolutionary countries in Latin America and establishing a significant presence on their soil.
ii) Economically, to erode the sanctions imposed on Iran through new markets. That can be done by coordinating prices with the major oil exporting countries.
iii) To damage Israel 's relations with Latin American countries, for example the severing of Israel 's diplomatic relations with both Venezuela and Bolivia during Operation Cast Lead. In addition, such a situation creates an internal political climate which encourages attacks on Jewish communities in Latin America, as witnessed by the vandalizing of the largest synagogue in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.
iv) To create intelligence and terrorism networks which will provide Iran with operational options to respond to events or initiate terrorist attacks against Israel and the United States, under the right circumstances when the order is given. Iran uses its proxy Hezbollah, whose activities and presence are widespread and increased in Latin America, including in ordinary crime such a drug dealing.
v) To spread Iranian, Khomeini-inspired Shi'ite Islam to the non-Muslim communities in Latin America, and at the same time to disseminate the ideology of the Iranian Islamic revolution and Iranian political influence in Muslim communities, especially Shi'ite-Lebanese (part of Iranian activities around the world).
Venezuela and the Islamic Republic of Iran
Iran’s incursion into Venezuela has been extremely lucrative. Venezuela had fostered a good relationship with the former President Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who both shared a hatred of the United States. The two countries had signed economic and military agreements that valued into billions of dollars, but according to reports very few of the joint agreements were successful. But since these agreements were signed under the Chavista era the Nicolas Maduro regime has kept warm relations with Iran.
At the time it appeared that the relationship between Iran and Venezuela was going nowhere whilst both countries weighed up the future with the unrest within the South American country. After a short period of agitation, Maduro appeared to win through. This then made the future more secure and Iran then stepped up its operation to gain a stronger and more secure foothold in Venezuela.
It was reported on the 1st December 2018 that Iran had launched a domestically made navel destroyer which the Iranian state media reported to have radar-evading stealth properties amongst other capabilities. At that time the Iranians also reported that it was to send two or three naval vessels to Venezuela on a mission that could last five months including its latest ship.
On the 4th January 2019 Iran announced that it was deploying warships in the Atlantic Ocean in March 2019 and the operation may take up to five months. The newly built Sahand which was announced in early January 2018 would be part of the flotilla. One of the reasons for sending the small fleet was in response to the fifth fleet presence which was based in Bahrain and an attempt to place pressure on the United States.
It was unsure as to why the Iranians would deploy naval vessels to the area. It is possible that it would remove gold mined in the Venezuela and ship it back to Iran. The possibility of the gold price being used to prop up a falling Iranian economy due to United States sanctions was a potential reason. However, this theory would turn out to be incorrect.
The announcement to deploy the Iranian ships was made before the previous Venezuelan unrest. The vessels may also be used to collect finances from Iran/Hezbollah’s illegal money laundering and drug activities; it would be a safe and secure manner of transporting the money or gold back to Iran without United States or other military navies stopping and searching the vessels.
Venezuelan Gold
Up until the 20th century gold was relied upon to back up hard currency known as the “Gold Standard.” Under this method a government would guarantee that a specific amount of paper money could be redeemed for a fixed quantity of gold held in the reserve. It was replaced by a term known as “flat currencies.”
The gold standard was abandoned in the 2oth century by the United States formally ending the international convertibility of the dollar to gold in 1971. The system was found to be inflexible, making it difficult for governments and central banks to respond effectively to financial crises or manage economic growth, as the money supply was limited by the amount of physical gold available. In a modern flat money system, central banks use monetary policy tools, such as adjusting interest rates, to manage the money supply and stabilize the economy.
While gold no longer directly backs currencies, central banks around the world still hold substantial gold reserves.
In May 2020 Al-Arabiya News reported that out of cash and desperate for help in propping up its oil industry, Venezuela was raiding its gold vaults and handing tons of bars to its long-time ally Iran. Venezuelan government officials piled approximately 9 tons of gold – an amount equal to about $500 million – on Tehran-bound aircraft in May as payment for Iran’s assistance in reviving Venezuela’s crippled gasoline refineries. Venezuela’s 1.3 million-bpd refining network had all but collapsed due to under-investment and lack of maintenance.
Iran was the latest destination for Venezuelan gold after the US cracked down on similar deals that the Nicolas Maduro regime was conducting with Russia and Turkey.
Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro defended the right to “freely trade with Iran,” rejecting criticism following a gasoline vessel sent from the Middle East country to aid the fuel-starved South American nation.
Gasoline and Food
Iran had been sending multiple fuel tankers to Venezuela to address gasoline shortages. The first shipment arrived in a flotilla of tankers that, in defiance of U.S. sanctions, entered Venezuelan waters between 24th May and 31st May 2020, carrying a combined 1.5 million barrels of gasoline. In June another vessel arrived with an estimated 300,000 barrels, and three others brought 820,000 barrels between the 28th September and the 4th October. Between December 2020 and January 2021 another flotilla would have carried 2.3 million barrels. To this total of at least 5 million barrels of gasoline should be added the arrival of 2.1 million barrels of condensate to be used as a diluent for Venezuelan extra-heavy oil.
Venezuela was purchasing sanctioned Iranian oil.
Iran’s oil is heavily sanctioned and looks for outlets to sell the commodity. With Venezuela’s oil industry in shambles, it’s an easy outlet for Iran to sell its oil not just to Venezuela but also to Russia and China. The Maduro government is also under heavy sanctions but with both governments sanctioned the swapping of oil for food and medical supplies works for both countries. (It is important to know that there are no sanctions on Iranian medical supplies)
“The first of an expected five Iranian vessels bringing millions of barrels of gasoline and components arrived,” Maduro said on state TV. The socialist leader thanked the former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei for the deliveries, saying Venezuela has “good and brave friends in the world.”
Maduro defended the deal as part of a previous cooperation agreement. “We, Venezuela and Iran, want peace,” he said. “We have the right to freely trade products throughout the seas of the world.”
The delivery was announced by Vice President for Economy and Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami. “Ships from our sister Islamic Republic of Iran are already in our exclusive economic zone,” El Aissami wrote on Saturday night.
Venezuela’s armed forces escorted the vessel as it entered Venezuelan waters. Iran’s embassy in Caracas also tweeted about the arrival. A second vessel, the Forest, will also soon arrive in Venezuela, Iran’s state TV news reported, without giving more details.
On the 29th September 2020 in open defiance of US sanctions, the Forest, the first of three Iranian oil tankers, had entered Venezuelan territorial waters off the coast of Sucre state with its tracking system turned off, according to reports from MarineTraffic.com and TankerTrackers.com.
The Forest departed Bandar Abbas, Iran, on the 9th August. It is an oil tanker built in 2004 and flies the Iranian flag. Bandar Abbas is a key naval base for Iran, heavily utilized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy for housing assets like drones, missile systems, and fast attack craft, adjacent to the massive Shahid Rajaee commercial port, making it a significant military and trade hub near the Strait of Hormuz.
Major General Seyyed Yahya Safavi, assistant and senior advisor to the Supreme Commander of the Iranian Armed Forces, confirmed the entire process involving the shipment of gasoline to Venezuela, which was paid for with gold. We gave gasoline to Venezuela and obtained gold bars and brought the gold to Iran by plane so that nothing would happen to it."
Caracas and Tehran Direct Flights
Venezuela becomes even more important to Iran and is seen as the backdoor to the United States. On the 9th April 2019 the Iranians sent a delegation to Venezuela to discuss direct commercial flights between the two countries. Iran’s ‘Mahan Air’ in March 2019 had adopted this route but in 2018 Mahan was sanctioned by the office of Foreign Asset Control and banned by Germany, France and later Italy for transporting military aid to Syria in 2008. As of January 2020, Mahan Air is not allowed to operate flights into Europe as it has been blacklisted. But, still operates between Asia and Africa.
Mahan Airlines was banned between 2019 – 2020 from Germany, France, Italy and Spain due to its involvement with the Maduro government in Venezuela and the Assad regime in Syria. In 2024 the airline was sanctioned by the European Union for transporting weapons to Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian War.
On the 13th January 2025, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) announced that flights between Iran and Europe would resume on the 31st January 2025. The first route to reopen will be between Tehran and Paris, operated by Iranian private carrier Iran Airtour Airlines.
Flights between Iran and Europe were suspended in mid-October 2024 after the European Union imposed sanctions on Iran over allegations it had sent drones to Russia for use in the Ukraine war. Those sanctions specifically targeted Iran Air, Saha Airlines and Mahan Air, although the allegations were dismissed by the Iranian authorities who strongly protested against the aviation bans, which it said only affected the Iranian citizens living and working in Europe.
Currently there is a lot of sea and air traffic between Iran and Venezuela. According to the web page of Skyscanner there are 58 flights per week. Iran is well known for smuggling weapons and other military logistics on commercial airlines, this leads to the possibility of a similar action. With no real ability to check on manifests or cargos as they leave their destination the capacity to abuse this to Iran’s own gains leaves it wide open. In 2010 Turkish officials seized 22 Iranian shipping containers bound for Venezuela which were labelled as ‘tractor parts’ but reportedly contained material for an explosive laboratory.
Venezuela-Iran ghost flights: The Venezuela-Iran ghost flights are clandestine and irregular flight routes from Venezuela to Iran and back. Some flights would pass through Syria and Paraguay. These flights, known as "aeroterror", were closed to the public and operated by sanctioned airlines such as Conviasa, Emtrasur Cargo, and Mahan Air. Due to their alleged role in facilitating the transport of weapons, gold, sanctioned cargo, and personnel linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah, these flights raised international concern.
These ghost flights were mainly operated by Mahan Air.
Supermarket
On the 22nd June 2020 Iran and Venezuela announce that an Iranian supermarket would open in Venezuela. On the 6th July 2020 a conglomerate owned by the Iranian military and tied to Iran’s ‘missile program’ established a retail foothold in Venezuela. The Etka, an Iranian company subordinate to the Iranian Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces (MODAFL) and tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) company opened the supermarket called Megasis with the purpose of boosting the production of Iranian commodities.
The store covers an area of 20,000 sq. mtrs and sells more than 2,500 Iranian items. Such as foodstuff, clothing, detergents, plastic disposable products, nuts and even tractors. The Iranian population voiced their dismay especially as millions lived below the poverty line and the government was “unable to assist” their needs for society. Rising inflation, growing unemployment, a slump in the rial due to sanctions would not help Iran. It is possible that this supermarket may be used to launder money.
There are primary controversies and allegations surrounding the supermarket.
One Million Hectares of Land in Venezuela
In September 2022 an Iranian official said on Iranian PRESSTV that Venezuela had agreed to provide one million hectares of agricultural land for Iran’s overseas cultivation projects to secure food.
Announcing the agreement, Ali Rezvanizadeh said Venezuela could provide a better opportunity than Brazil and Russia for Iran’s overseas agricultural projects, including growing crops of soy beans and corn.
Experts say the biggest advantage of overseas cultivation for Iran is preserving its precious water resources. Iran’s agriculture uses around 85 percent of all available water resources. It would also potentially contribute to the country’s food security, a great concern of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who has been an ardent promoter of agricultural self-sufficiency over the past three decades.
Iran is currently (2025) suffering from its worst ever drought. Although blamed on climate change the main reasons are mismanagement, corruption and the building of water dams in the wrong place are other reasons which is not readily admitted by the Iranian government. Farmland in Tehran has practically dried up over the years for lack of water.
Venezuela, Iran and Long-Range Missiles
In February 2012 in a paper written by Norman A Bailey for the American Foreign Policy Council, titled; “Iran’s Venezuelan Gateway,” pointed out on page four that, “Recent reports that Iran has established missile bases in Venezuela, however, remain unconfirmed. Recently on the 23rd August 2020 A Reuters article titled; “Maduro says Venezuela buying Iranian missiles ‘a good idea’.
Should this occur then we may see a similar action to that of the Soviets in 1962 attempting to place nuclear weapons on Cuban territory. Fortunately, the Soviets/Russians backed down and war was avoided.
If Iran sold missiles to Venezuela, then there would have been a possibility that the Venezuelans could produce their own missiles under Iranian influence and guidance. This would then place the Americans in direct contact similar to the Palestinians Vs Israel the Houthis Vs Saudi Arabians (2nd April 2015 – Present). Iran allows Hezbollah, Hamas and other affiliates along with Yemen’s Houthis building their own drones and missiles from technology supplied by Iran.
With the coast of Florida in the United States being approximately 1,200 miles away from Venezuela the southern part of certain areas in the United States are reachable. The Sejjil medium range ballistic missile (MRBM) has a range of 1,250 miles and the Soumar cruise missile has a range of 1,250 – 1,850 miles Iran through its new proxy (Venezuela) could easily reach the United States. It must also be remembered that Iran is constantly working on longer range missiles for ‘defence’ purposes. If they continue to research greater missile distances and have them stationed in Venezuela then more of the United States would become a target.
On the 26th October 2020 in a report by Fox News, that the United States warned that it would destroy potential Iranian long-range missile shipments delivered to the Maduro regime in Venezuela, a senior administration official informed Fox News.
"The transfer of long-range missiles from Iran to Venezuela is not acceptable to the United States and will not be tolerated or permitted," said Elliott Abrams, the State Department Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela.
"We will make every effort to stop shipments of long-range missiles, and if somehow they get to Venezuela they will be eliminated there," added a senior administration official.
However, on the 3rd October 2025 the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) [a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy research organization that advances an informed understanding of military affairs through reliable research, trusted analysis, and innovative education] Iran update explained that; Venezuela recently requested military equipment, including drones, from Iran amid heightened tensions between Venezuela and the United States, according to internal US government documents obtained by The Washington Post. It is unclear if Iran is willing and able to export drones and other military equipment to Venezuela after the Israel-Iran War.
Venezuelan Transport Minister Ramon Celestino Velasquez reportedly “coordinated a shipment of military equipment and drones from Iran” and informed Iran that it requires “passive detection equipment,” GPS jamming devices, and drones with a range of 1,000 kilometres (approximately 600 miles).
Iran has outsourced some of its drone production to Venezuela over the past decade, including the production of Mohajer-6 drones, which have a range of 200 kilometres (approximately 124 miles).
Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei stated on the 3rd November that Venezuela can defend itself, but that Iran will “certainly” continue to cooperate with Venezuela.
It’s possible that the government of Iran will support Venezuela as it did with its proxies, Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah. The only support they had during the latest round of conflict was the selling of drones, missiles, weapons and ammunition with encouragement but at the last-minute Iran never stepped up to the mark to assist them leaving their proxies to face their fate with only words of support from Iran.
Prior to the ISW report the Iranian Tehran Times wrote; Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil Pinto has expressed his gratitude to Iran for backing the Latin American nation in the face of US military threats and pressure.
The presidents developed a notably close personal and political relationship, highlighted by frequent state visits, public demonstrations of solidarity, and formal agreements spanning the economic, energy, and industrial sectors. Today, both countries maintain comprehensive diplomatic ties via their official embassies and frequent high-level exchanges. The partnership intensified under current Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and includes regular presidential meetings, official delegation visits, and joint commission sessions.
Iran has used this leverage to establish a robust foothold in Latin America, constructing a dense network involving both direct state-to-state links and the integration of proxy actors like Hezbollah. The bilateral relationship has been solidified by defence pacts, including a 20-year agreement signed in 2022, and joint manufacturing of Iranian drones and weapons on Venezuelan soil, including potential deployments of loitering munitions and jamming devices.
On the 11th December 2025 Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has unveiled a new jet-powered, stealth-oriented suicide drone, designed to evade modern air defences with high speed and low radar visibility. Named the Hadid-110, it emphasizes speed, stealth, and rapid deployment.
According to specifications listed by the US military’s OE Data Integration Network, with its jet engine, the Hadid-110 can reportedly fly up to 517 km. an hour at an altitude of 90,000 m. and reach targets some 350 km. away – making it Iran’s fastest flying UAS to date.
Although this UAS could not reach the United States from Venezuela in the hands of a Mexican drug cartel it would do. The question that needs to be asked is how long would it be before these drones are manufactured in Venezuela under Iranian supervision and used by those who seek vengeance against the United States?
Economically, the alliance is built on mutual circumvention of Western sanctions.
Iran is actively assisting Venezuela's arms industry, a relationship that includes technology transfer, joint manufacturing of drones, and the potential transfer of missile systems. This cooperation, which circumvents international sanctions, is a key component of a broader strategic anti-Western alliance between the two nations.
Key Areas of Cooperation
Drone Production: Iran has played a central role in the development of Venezuela's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program. As early as 2012, Venezuela confirmed it was producing drones with Iranian assistance. Venezuelan state-owned manufacturer, Compañía Anónima Venezolana de Industrias Militares (CAVIM), produces models based on Iranian designs like the Mohajer-2 (known locally as the Arpia) and the advanced attack-capable Mohajer-6. Reports indicate that Iranian personnel control some of these production facilities in Venezuela.
Missile Technology: There have been reports and accusations over the years concerning discussions and potential agreements for the transfer or joint development of missile technology. In 2022, Israel's Defence Minister alleged that Iran had provided Venezuela with precision-guided missiles for use with the Mohajer-6 drones.
Military and Technical Expertise: Iranian military advisors and technical teams are present in Venezuela, assisting not only with arms production but also with other relevant infrastructure like oil refineries, which helps sustain the overall partnership. The cooperation also extends to using civilian airliners, such as those operated by Conviasa and Mahan Air, as a "dual-use logistical route" for potentially transporting military hardware and personnel.
Circumvention of Sanctions: Both countries are heavily sanctioned by Western powers and use various methods, including oil-for-gold barter systems and opaque financial transactions involving state-owned companies like PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela, SA is a Venezuelan state-owned company whose main activities are the exploration, production, refining, marketing and transportation of Venezuelan oil, as well as the orimulsion, chemical, petrochemical and coal businesses) and CAVIM, (The Venezuelan Military Industries Corporation is a public company in Venezuela dedicated to the development of weaponry, ammunition, explosives, military machinery and technological development used by the Armed Forces) to fund and conceal these military projects and transfers.
Strategic Alliance: The military cooperation is underpinned by a deep political alliance and a shared anti-U.S. posture, formalized by a 20-year cooperation agreement signed in 2022. The relationship provides Iran with a strategic foothold in Latin America, which U.S. officials view as a security threat.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in August 2020 said it would be a “good idea” to look into buying missiles from Iran, a day after Colombia said Venezuela was considering such a plan amid growing ties between Caracas and Tehran.
“It had not occurred to me, it had not occurred to us,” Maduro said during a televised broadcast with cabinet members, instructing Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino to follow up and jokingly telling his cabinet to keep the plan a secret. “Padrino, what a good idea, to speak with Iran to see what short, medium and long-range missiles they have, and if it is possible, given the great relations we have with Iran.”
Colombian President Ivan Duque said that Maduro was looking to buy Iranian missiles and is handing over weapons made in Russia and Belarus to Colombian armed groups. Maduro said Duque’s statement was a “good idea” he had not yet considered. “If it is possible and convenient, we will buy those missiles.”
The United States Builds a Military Presence off the Coast of Venezuela
Trump has made stopping immigration a priority during his second term in office and he blames Maduro for the arrival of a large number of Venezuelan migrants in the US. Since 2013, close to eight million Venezuelans are estimated to have fled the economic crisis and political repression in Venezuela, which have become worse under Maduro.
Most have fled to Latin American countries, but hundreds of thousands have gone to the US. Trump has also focused on fighting the influx of drugs - especially fentanyl and cocaine - into the US.
As part of his war on drugs, he has designated two Venezuelan criminal groups - Tren de Aragua and Cartel de los Soles - as Foreign Terrorist Organisations and has alleged that the latter is led by Maduro himself.
Maduro has vehemently denied being a cartel leader and has accused the US of using its "war on drugs" as an excuse to try and depose him and get its hands on Venezuela's vast reserves of oil.
The US has deployed 15,000 troops and a range of aircraft carriers, guided-missile destroyers, and amphibious assault ships to the Caribbean. The stated aim of the deployment - the largest in the region since the US invaded Panama in 1989 - is to stop the flow of fentanyl and cocaine to the US.
Since early September 2025, US forces have carried out more than 20 strikes in international waters on boats alleged to have been carrying drugs. More than 80 people have been killed in the strikes.
In mid-November 2025, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Operation Southern Spear would begin later in November, with a fleet using robotics and autonomous systems to target Latin American drug trafficking.
Air Space
While Venezuela has authority over its airspace, on 29 November, Trump announced on social media that airspace over the country should be considered entirely closed, days after he stated that the US would begin to strike land targets "very soon". The Washington Post stated that "such a move is sometimes a first step ahead of airstrikes"; while Trump cannot legally close Venezuela's airspace and he did not impose a no-fly zone, the "threat ... might be enough to prompt commercial airlines to halt flights over Venezuela". Venezuelan officials condemned Trump's statement as a "colonialist threat", stating that Venezuela rejects "orders, threats, or interference from any foreign power."
“On behalf of the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela and our President Nicolás Maduro, we wish to express our sincere appreciation for the firm condemnation made by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding the recent unilateral action by the United States to declare the closure of Venezuelan airspace,” Pinto said in a post on his Telegram page shared on 30th November.
Boat seizure
On the 10th December 2025 the United States military seized a Venezuelan oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. US Attorney General Pam Bondi later said that the tanker was used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.
The vessel, the Skipper, was named the Adisa when it was sanctioned. The 2022 Treasury statement listed it alongside eight other vessels that it said were part of “a vast, complex, and interwoven global network of front companies that are used to facilitate oil shipments” for a smuggling network.
The operation involved “blending oil to conceal the Iranian origins of the shipments and exporting it around the world in support of Hezbollah and the IRGC-QF,” through a network of shell companies in the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, and Singapore, it added.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said; "For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations," she wrote on social media. “Our investigation alongside the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil continues.”
The Iranian embassy in Caracas on the 11th December condemned the United States’ seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker off the South American country’s coast, calling the operation “piracy in the Caribbean Sea” and a clear breach of international law. The embassy said in a statement that the action violated fundamental global norms.
"The illegal move by the US government to seize a Venezuelan oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea without any justified or legal reason constitutes a blatant violation of international laws and regulations, including the inviolable principle of freedom of the seas and navigation,” it said.
“‘Piracy in the Caribbean Sea' is the most appropriate title for this unlawful and unjustified move by the US, which seeks to achieve its goals by resorting to illegitimate measures, violation of national sovereignty, infringement of others’ rights, and the promotion of anarchism,” it added.
Re-Org
Will Venezuela become America’s next arena against Iran?
The unveiling of the United States Operation Southern Spear (13th November 2025) by US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, came just before the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas (10th October 2025) and nearly a year after the Hezbollah/Israel ceasefire (27th November 2024).
Both Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran have lucrative dealings with Venezuela and reap handsome rewards from those transactions with the Maduro government.
The United States Naval task-force off of the coast of Venezuela maybe a long-term plan to exert pressure on Maduro to step aside and hold genuine and authentic elections which would see him replaced with a lawful government.
If the United States assisted an opposition party or a pro-American president with military aid the whole illegal industry that Iran and Hezbollah have set up over the years would be in jeopardy. The action would be a blow in propping up the Iranian economy now and in the future bringing a greater strain to the country and the current sanctioned theocratic leadership.
A pro-U.S. president in place with assistance in rebuilding the former socialist government could then be used to curb the narcotics trade and reduce Iranian and Hezbollah dependency which in turn would create a problem for the Iranian government and the income for Hezbollah. Iran is already under strict U.S., EU and international sanctions. By denying Iran and Hezbollah large sums of revenue would create financial difficulties for both. Funds they would have to find elsewhere in order to prop up their proxies.
Hezbollah is already having problems receiving funds from Iran since the down fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria (8th December 2024). By halting finances from Venezuela as well it would create immense difficulties for the Iranian-backed terrorist group. Hezbollah in its operations against Israel and Iran in supporting and funding its proxies.
So, the build-up of Naval forces by the United States may have other Operational Requirements (OR’s) and not just the reduction of narcotics and the refugees seeking a new life in other Latin America countries and the US. There may be a secondary OR that we are not yet familiar with.
There is also the threat by Iran using Venezuela as a staging point for attacks on the south of the United States. With U.S. President waging war on drug cartels and damaging their drug business it may be that the cartels closest to the United States become launch platforms for drones’ and missiles into America.
Iran still has scores to settle against America for the deaths of its military personnel and its nuclear program. But it will depend on if Iran wants to sacrifice Venezuela. With the reduction of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in a rebuild situation and the Houthis slowly building its resources it’s hardly likely that Iran would martyr Venezuela and lose what it has in South America.
Paul Ashley
“Where they have planted their flag in our hemisphere is on Venezuelan territory, with the full and open cooperation of that regime.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (speaking in a Fox News interview broadcast on the 2nd December 2025)
Venezuela the United States, Hezbollah and Iran
Introduction
With the build-up of United States Naval forces off of the coast of Venezuela against what has become a conflict against narco-terrorism there may be other underlying factors to be considered. The US and Venezuela have for sometimes not seen eye-to-eye especially since the ‘Pink Tide’ of socialism took over.
The Pink Tide refers to a widespread political shift in Latin America from the late 1990s into the 2000s, bringing left-leaning governments to power, characterized by social programs, state intervention, and opposition to neoliberalism. These leaders, like Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Brazil's Lula, focused on reducing inequality, increasing national sovereignty, and promoting social inclusion, often funded by high commodity prices. The term means a move towards "softer" left policies (pink) compared to traditional communism (red), challenging US-backed economic models.
The first wave faced challenges from domestic opposition and external pressures.
After a period of conservative governments, a "New Pink Tide" emerged in the late 2010s and early 2020s with new left-wing leaders in countries like Colombia, Chile, and Brazil, facing similar struggles to redefine socialism for the 21st century.
Numerous American presidents have sought to curb narcotics emanating from Venezuela. However, the Trump administration appears to be taking the whole matter a lot more seriously especially with thousands of Venezuelan refugees seeking safety in other Latin America countries as well as the United States.
The U.S. "War on Drugs" in South America involves long-standing efforts to combat drug production and trafficking, notably through programs like Plan Colombia, but has seen evolving strategies, from eradication and interdiction to more recent, controversial escalations under the Trump administration in the mid-2020s, involving military deployments, intelligence operations (like the CIA), and increased rhetoric against cartels, particularly linked to fentany. These actions have faced political tensions, with countries like Venezuela mobilizing their own forces in response.
In August 2025, the US began deploying warships and personnel to the Caribbean, citing the need to combat drug cartels, although most of the fentanyl entering the US is over land via Mexico. On 20 August, Trump ordered three Navy warships to the coast of South America. As of the 29th August, seven US warships, along with one nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, were in and around the Southern Caribbean, bringing along more than 4,500 sailors and marines.
The Central Intelligence Agency joined the military campaign after confirming that it would play a significant role in combating drug cartels, just as it is considering using lethal force against these criminal organizations.
In response to this tension in United States–Venezuela relations, Venezuela said it would mobilize more than four million soldiers in the Bolivarian Militia. On the 26th August, Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino López announced a naval deployment around Venezuela's main oil hub. Maduro said he "would constitutionally declare a republic in arms" if the country were attacked by the US forces deployed in the Caribbean.
Iran Courts Venezuela
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad started a five-day tour of South America on the 8th January 2012. The Iranian President was to visit Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador. The Iranians over past years had been cultivating leftist, popularist and anti-American Latin American leaders. At the time it was thought that Iran was desperate for friends and attempting to find new allies. The trip was to promote economic and geographical agendas.
The Iranians have long detested the American in the Gulf Region and in particular its fifth fleet in Bahrain. They accuse the Americans of upsetting the status quo in the region with their presence whereby in fact they are keeping the peace in and around the Middle East and halting the Iranians from operating in an interfering manner. Maybe someone on the Iranian administration had another thought. If they were able to court and assist failing Latin American governments that were struggling financially due to their socialist ideology, they would welcome another power to assist them in finance and commerce thus paving the way for other reasons.
The Iranians would then be able to pressurize the Americans by having a large presence in the south of the United States and therefore reversing the difficulty that the Iranians felt in the Gulf Region with the presence of the American Fifth Fleet.
Not all the South American countries would welcome a continued presence of Iranians living in their country as some would like, at some point, to renew diplomacy with their northern neighbours. But, for Iran it would worth a chance of attempting to put the Americans in a different think zone. The Iranians along with Hezbollah would be able to break their international isolation, gain access to valuable resources, undermine the United States in the region and establish a new platform to continue their war with the U.S.
In October 2011 many Americans were shocked to find out that a dual national Iranian-American was acting on the behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force involved in a plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabia Ambassador in Washington. The individual also had links to Mexican drug cartels. Iran and Hezbollah already had ties to Mexican drug alliances and were involved in people and drug smuggling into the United States. Hezbollah had been teaching drug cartels how to use Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) and the use of Vehicle Bourne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIED) to great effect and the Hezbollah knowledge in building underground tunnels across the border. Both the drug cartels and the Iranians benefit from the relationship.
Iran and Hezbollah have been trafficking illegal immigrants into the United States through Mexico which could be used to set up sleeper cells. In the event of a major conflict between the two countries these sleeper cells would be activated to create damage and give Americans a doubt as to the government being able to protect them on their home turf.
Iran continued to apply weight on the southern area of the Americas. Venezuela opened its doors to the Iranians with regular flights to its country directly from Iran, opening a supermarket and enticing the Venezuelan government with the idea of purchasing missiles. Iranian naval fleets making regular trips to the South American port by the Iranian navy would definitely give the Americans another perspective to look at.
These moves by Iran would give the United States another challenging approach to consider should America consider attacking the Iranians in the future. Venezuela is the hub of the Iranian development and advancement in the southern hemisphere and would no doubt escalate and expand in the future. The Iranians already use South America to launder money in some cases using the United States to do so.
Venezuelan Presidency
Hugo Chávez served as president from 1999 until his death on the 5th March 2013. Nicolás Maduro Moros, who had been serving as vice president, became the interim president following Chávez's death and was subsequently elected to the position in a special election in April 2013. Nicolás Maduro rose to prominence under the leadership of left-wing President Hugo Chávez and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
Maduro has ruled by decree for the majority of his presidency. Rule by decree is a style of governance allowing quick, unchallenged promulgation of law by a single person or group of people, usually without legislative approval. Rule by decree is often a key feature of dictatorships. Governments often issue decrees in order to bypass the conventional means of making laws.
The U.S. Department of State on the 7th August 2025 offered a $50 million reward for Maduro’s arrest and/or conviction. The State Department detailed: Maduro helped manage and ultimately lead the Cartel of the Suns, a Venezuelan drug-trafficking organization comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials. As he gained power in Venezuela, Maduro participated in a corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Maduro negotiated multi-ton shipments of FARC-produced cocaine; directed the Cartel of the Suns (Cartel de los Soles) to provide military-grade weapons to the FARC; coordinated with narcotics traffickers in Honduras and other countries to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking; and solicited assistance from FARC leadership in training an unsanctioned militia group that functioned, in essence, as an armed forces unit for the Cartel of the Suns.
In March 2020, Maduro was charged in the Southern District of New York for narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
In 2019, the National Assembly of Venezuela invoked the Venezuelan constitution and declared that Maduro had usurped power and was not the president of Venezuela. Since 2019, more than 50 countries, including the United States, have refused to recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s head of state.
Major Terrorist Incidents
Masih Alinejad fled from Iran in 2009 following presidential elections and a government crackdown. Alinejad lives in Brooklyn and has family still in Iran but is now a U.S. citizen, and a longtime critic of the Iranian government. She was a journalist in her native Iran for several years until she fled the country.
She has continued to work as a journalist with her Voice of America Persian show in the U.S. Alinejad also organizes "White Wednesday" and "My Stealthy Freedom" campaigns where women film themselves without head coverings, or hijabs, in public in Iran — in a challenge to the nation's government.
It was announced in July 2021 in a 43-page indictment unsealed on the 13th July 2021 detailing the plan by an Iranian intelligence official and his three assets to track a Brooklyn-based journalist with the goal of bringing her back to Iran.
Members of the Iranian intelligence was exploring ways to spirit the journalist from her home in Brooklyn and take her by speedboat out to sea, and then to Venezuela, which maintains friendly ties with Tehran.
The speedboat scheme appears to have been considered only after the failure of efforts to persuade the target’s family to lure her to a third country in the Middle East, from where she would have been seized by Iranian agents, a technique used by Tehran in two other incidents.
“About eight months or so ago, the FBI warned me that there was a plot against me,” Alinejad said. “I said that’s not exactly news, I get death threats daily. The next thing is that the FBI tell me that I’m being targeted, that I am under photo and video surveillance in an operation by the intelligence ministry.
According to the US charges, the plot to abduct Alinejad was part of a broader kidnapping campaign developed by the Iranian intelligence ministry, with intended targets in Canada, the UK and the UAE.
Iran's government said the allegations were "ridiculous and baseless". Terms used when Iran has been caught with their hand in the biscuit tin.
A second attempt was made against Alinejad in late July 2022, a hitman was standing on the front porch of her home in Brooklyn, New York. The man, bearded and wearing a black T-shirt and baggy black shorts, had allegedly been hired as part of a plot hatched in Iran to assassinate Alinejad.
When she didn’t answer the door, the suspect returned to his car and drove off, running a stop sign near her house. The police pulled him over and found an AK-47-style rifle in the back seat of his car. He was arrested, and from there the FBI unravelled what prosecutors say was a murder-for-hire scheme directed from Iran to assassinate Alinejad.
Argentina Terrorist Attack
The Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina is a Jewish Community Centre located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Translated it is Argentine Israelite Mutual Association a Jewish Community Centre.
A suicide attack, a Vehicle Bourne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) was driven into the AMIA building and subsequently detonated, killing 85 people and injuring over 300 on the 18th July 1994. To date, the bombing remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentine history.
In 1994, Argentina was home to a Jewish community of 200,000, making it the largest in Latin America and the sixth-largest in the world outside of Israel.
The bombing came two years after the 17th March 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires which killed 29 and wounded 242, and was Argentina's deadliest attack until the AMIA bombing. The Islamic Jihad Organization, which according to Robert Baer operates under the umbrella of Hezbollah and was linked to Iran, claimed responsibility for that bombing.
On the 27th January 2013, the Government of Argentina announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran to establish a "truth commission" to investigate the AMIA bombing.
It was announced on the 12th April 2024 in the Guardian that a new ruling by Argentina’s highest criminal court had blamed Iran for the fatal 1994 attack against a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, declaring it a “crime against humanity” in a decision that paves the way for victims to seek justice.
Argentina’s judiciary has long maintained Iran was behind the attack, but joint investigations and Interpol arrest warrants have led nowhere. Iran has refused to turn over citizens convicted in Argentina and denied any involvement.
Argentina in April 2024 had asked Interpol to issue an arrest notice for the Iranian interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi. Argentina has in the past accused Mr Vahidi, who led the overseas operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (ICRGC) at the time of the attack, of being one of the masterminds behind the bombing.
On the 10th April 2025 the Argentinian Prosecutor Sebastián Basso, who replaced the late Alberto Nisman, asked federal judge Daniel Rafecas to issue national and international arrest warrants for the Iranian Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei, according to the Argentine paper Clarin.
Basso also requested the application of trial in absentia for the remaining Iranian and Lebanese suspects named in the case.
Some of the high-level officials accused in the bombing case include former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has since died, then-Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, and former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian.
Others include former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaee, former Quds Force commander Ahmad Vahidi, former Iranian diplomat Ahmad Reza Asghari, former cultural attaché Mohsen Rabbani, and Imad Mughniyeh, the late Hezbollah operations chief.
The move follows the passage of a law promoted by President Javier Milei, allowing trials in absentia in cases involving grave crimes.
President Javier Milei blamed the “fanatical government of Iran” for the bombing and linked the 1994 attack to the 7th October 2023, assault by Hamas on Israel. “The terrorism of that tragic 7th October is exactly the same terrorism that attacked us 30 years ago.”
On the 15th April 2025, Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called in Jorge Mariano Jordan, Argentina’s chargé d'affaires in Tehran, to express Tehran's firm objection to a decision by Argentine prosecutor Sebastián Basso, who issued arrest warrants for several high-ranking Iranian officials in connection with the bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires.
In a statement released on the 16th April 2025, Iran's Foreign Ministry stated: "In response to the unlawful and internationally improper actions taken by the Argentine Prosecutor’s Office, the chargé d'affaires of Argentina in Tehran was summoned by Issa Kameli, Director General for the Americas at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kameli delivered the Islamic Republic of Iran’s official protest note to the Argentine diplomat."
During the meeting with the Argentine diplomat, Kameli firmly rejected the accusations made by the Argentine judiciary. He denounced the charges as baseless and asserted that they represented a significant deviation from the prolonged and unresolved judicial process related to the bombing. He further pointed out that the blame placed on Iran only served to deepen the ambiguities surrounding the case—ambiguities that have long been exacerbated by external influences, particularly those associated with the Zionist regime, which has used the case for its political advantage.
Iran uses the word “baseless” when it has been caught with its hand in the sweet jar.
While Argentine courts have focused on Iran and Hezbollah for the 1990s attacks, Venezuela entered the conversation in the context of ongoing Iranian influence in the region.
Some reports and political figures have alleged that former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez brokered a deal in which Iran financed a past Argentine presidential campaign in exchange for Argentina dropping its investigation into the bombings.
In June 2022, an incident involving a Venezuelan-operated cargo plane (Emtrasur, a subsidiary of a U.S.-sanctioned Venezuelan airline) grounded in Buenos Aires drew significant international attention. The plane had a mixed Venezuelan and Iranian crew, some of whom were suspected of having ties to Iran's Quds Force (the overseas branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S.). While no evidence of chargeable crimes was found regarding that specific flight, the incident highlighted persistent concerns about Venezuela potentially serving as a hub for Iranian activity in Latin America.
Argentina and Hamas
Argentina officially designated Hamas as an international terrorist organization and ordered the freezing of its financial assets in July 2024. President Javier Milei announced the decision, making Argentina the first country in Latin America to take this step.
The decision was based on attacks on the 7th October 2023 against Israel, in which seven Argentine citizens died and others were taken hostage; Hamas's links with Iran, which the Argentine justice system holds responsible for the terrorist attacks against the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 and the AMIA in 1994, the deadliest attacks in the country's history.
Russia Adds to the Mix
On the 10th December 2018 open-source networks reported that Russia had sent two nuclear-capable bombers to Venezuela. A deployment that came amid soaring Russia-U.S. tensions.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said a pair Tu-160 bombers landed at Maiquetia airport outside Caracas, Venezuela’s capital following a 10,000-kilometer (6,200-mile) flight. It didn’t say if the bombers were carrying any weapons and didn’t say how long they will stay in Venezuela.
The Tu-160 is capable of carrying conventional or nuclear-tipped cruise missiles with a range of 5,500 kilometres (3,410 miles). Such bombers took part in Russia's campaign in Syria, where they launched conventionally-armed Kh-101 cruise missiles for the first time in combat.
The bombers' deployment followed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's visit to Moscow in a bid to shore up political and economic assistance even as his country was struggling to pay billions of dollars owed to Russia. Russia is a major political ally of Venezuela.
Venezuela and Hezbollah Connection
Marzia Giambertoni of the RAND Corportaion explained; Hezbollah's Latin American footprint is neither new nor theoretical. The organization has maintained a presence in the region since the early 1980s, establishing networks that span at least 12 countries from Mexico to Argentina. Their composition—a complex web of direct operatives, ideological supporters, opportunistic criminal partners, and diaspora community members with varying degrees of organizational connection—makes these networks particularly challenging to counter.
Atlantic Council 7th October 2020. The Maduro-Hezbollah Nexus: How Iran-backed Networks Prop up the Venezuelan Regime.
Hezbollah is responsible for carrying out terrorist attacks in Israel, Lebanon, Kuwait, Argentina, Panama, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Bulgaria. In Latin America, it is infamously known for the bombings of the Israeli embassy in 1992 and the Association Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) Jewish community centre in 1994, both in Buenos Aires, collectively killing one hundred and fourteen people and injuring hundreds more. The AMIA attack shocked many counterterrorism analysts at the time because it was the first terrorist attack by Hezbollah outside of Lebanon or the Middle East. The long arm of Iran and Hezbollah’s terror networks is also suspected of downing the Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901 in Panama the day after the 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires, killing all twenty-one passengers aboard.
The Hezbollah terror network that moved from Lebanon to Colombia to the Tri-Border Area, between Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina—to carry out the 1994 AMIA attack—is still active today. The work of the late Argentine special prosecutor Alberto Nisman ensured that Latin America remembers this fact. Since the AMIA attack, Hezbollah’s External Security Organization (ESO) or “Unit 910,” responsible for its extraterritorial operations, has successfully co-opted many Lebanese families throughout Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean.
Throughout the years, Hezbollah’s ESO has morphed from merely a terrorist network in Latin America to engage in the region’s most lucrative illicit enterprise: narcotics. Of the more than two thousand individuals and entities around the world designated by the US government as foreign narcotics kingpins, almost two hundred are affiliated with or connected to Hezbollah.
Hezbollah's criminal activities in Venezuela primarily involve drug trafficking, money laundering, and arms smuggling, often with the complicity and embedded support of high-ranking officials within the Venezuelan government. These activities leverage a strategic alliance between Iran, Hezbollah, and the Maduro regime.
Key criminal activities include:
Drug Trafficking: Hezbollah operatives are heavily involved in the cocaine trade, moving large shipments through Venezuela via maritime routes and clandestine airstrips, often in partnership with transnational criminal organizations like the FARC in Colombia and Mexican cartels.
Money Laundering: The organization uses sophisticated networks, including the Venezuelan banking sector and a free trade zone on Margarita Island, to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit proceeds, often through businesses like used car sales and casinos.
Document Fraud: Networks linked to Hezbollah participate in large-scale operations to produce falsified travel and identification documents (passports, national ID cards), which enables operatives to travel undetected across borders.
Arms Smuggling: Hezbollah has been linked to the illegal procurement and smuggling of weapons, which are then used to support their operations and those of their allies in the region.
Other Illicit Financing: The group also generates funds through oil smuggling, black market currency exchange, counterfeiting goods and currency, and illegal mining.
These activities are facilitated by a political environment of corruption and an "ungoverned space" that the Venezuelan government has allowed to flourish, with some Hezbollah-linked individuals holding positions within the state security apparatus. U.S. authorities have sanctioned numerous individuals and entities in Latin America for their roles in these financial networks, including former Venezuelan officials.
Largely driven by narcotics trafficking, Hezbollah operatives can largely move to and from Venezuela discretely and many have roots in Venezuela's sizable Lebanese community. Embedded within Maduro's security apparatus and intelligence network, Hezbollah-linked agents and operatives launder money for the Iranian-backed terrorist organization and its sponsors in Tehran.
This clandestine foothold in Venezuela provides Iran and Hezbollah with closer access to the U.S. homeland as well as potential soft military targets in the Western hemisphere.
Hezbollah and Drugs
Hezbollah is estimated to make hundreds of millions of dollars annually from its involvement in the Latin American drug trade, including operations linked to Venezuela, with some sources citing figures up to $400 million or more a year from narcotics globally. Specific amounts directly attributable only to activities within Venezuela are difficult to isolate, but estimates for the Venezuela-linked trade suggest figures potentially in the $300–$500 million range annually.
Since Hezbollah’s war with Israel (8th October 2023 – 27th November 2024) and more importantly the fall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad (December 2024) Hezbollah has had problems rebuilding itself after a major defeat by Israel. Iran is having a much harder time getting money to Hezbollah in a timely manner.
Matthew Levitt (Fromer-Wexler Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of its Jeanette and Eli Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence) said, “Hezbollah has a long history of turning to its diaspora networks when it’s facing financial stress.”
U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate International Narcotics Control Caucus, said the group “is one of Iran’s tools to destabilize and terrorize,” adding that “if we target Hezbollah’s financing, we can deny them the opportunity to rebuild.”
The Ayman Joumaa network – which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) exposed in 2011 and Treasury linked to Hezbollah in 2012 – was laundering up to $200 million a month for Mexican and Colombian cartels. Joumaa, according to the DEA, took a hefty 8-14% commission for his services. Assuming the 2018 estimates are correct, the Joumaa operation alone would have generated at least two-thirds of Hezbollah’s annual revenue from illicit activities. And while Joumaa’s operation was eventually disrupted, his complex scheme to launder drug proceeds continued to operate long after sanctions and indictments were made public.
Joumaa’s money laundering organization was not the only game in town. The DEA estimated Hezbollah’s proceeds from drug trafficking alone to have been higher than the overall U.S. estimate of its global fundraising efforts. A 2016 DEA affidavit filed with a Florida court in a Hezbollah money laundering case put the value of Hezbollah’s annual proceeds from narcotics at $400 million – and even that might now be a conservative estimate.
Moreover, the illicit global narcotics trade isn’t Hezbollah’s only source of revenue. Hezbollah plays a large part in the illicit economy of the Tri-Border region of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, which is said to generate at least $5 billion a year in illicit transactions. The group likewise helps Venezuela’s regime launder money through multiple way points, and it runs several fraudulent schemes in West Africa.
Iran provides substantial funding to Hezbollah, with estimates suggesting Iran funnelled over $700 million annually to the group around 2020, contributing significantly to its estimated $1 billion annual budget, while the rest comes from illicit activities and control over Lebanese state resources. This support includes arms, training, and direct cash transfers, though exact figures fluctuate yearly.
With Iran being strictly handicapped in providing funds to Hezbollah its drug trade in Venezuela and other Latin American countries is of great use to the group to fund its war against Israel. Cut this form revenue off or severely reduce it and it would cause Hezbollah to scale back its war against Israel and the money for its supporters in Lebanon.
The Islamic Republic of Iran and Latin America
Iran's key allies in South America and the broader Latin American region include Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, and Nicaragua, forming a bloc often united by anti-US sentiment and economic cooperation, with Iran providing military tech (drones), training, and trade in areas like oil, biotech, and cyber security, while leveraging cultural centres and media (like HispanTV) to expand influence against Western hegemony.
Iran provides military technology (drones) and training, particularly to Bolivia and Venezuela, while boosting trade in sectors like energy and technology.
LTG Raymond Palumbo, USA (ret) and Yoni Tobin who is a senior policy analyst at Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) explained in August 2025 that the Iran-Venezuela strategic partnership has matured into a robust, multi-dimensional alliance, impacting both regional security and US foreign policy calculations. Iran and Venezuela’s cooperation span’s the social, political, diplomatic, economic, and military domains — and is directly influencing the US posture toward Venezuela, including the recent military buildup near its shores and targeted strikes on drug trafficking operations.
Iran has used this leverage to establish a robust foothold in Latin America, constructing a dense network involving both direct state-to-state links and the integration of proxy actors like Hezbollah. The bilateral relationship has been solidified by defence pacts, including a 20-year agreement signed in 2022, and joint manufacturing of Iranian drones and weapons on Venezuelan soil, including potential deployments of loitering munitions and jamming devices.
Venezuela has long served as a launchpad for Iranian operations to establish a foothold in South America. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) its Quds Force and Iran’s Intelligence Ministry have all had a presence in Venezuela. The Quds Force has used economic delegations to Venezuela and other countries around the world as cover for terrorist activity. The Quds Force Unit 840 which plots terror schemes abroad has historically been active in Venezuela.
From an article in the Defencenet.com (19th September 2009) which states the interests, which lie behind Iran 's desire to strengthen relations with Latin America, are:
i) To improve Iran 's strategic position vis-à-vis the United States by posing a potential threat and creating a kind of balance of power which will challenge America by collaborating with revolutionary countries in Latin America and establishing a significant presence on their soil.
ii) Economically, to erode the sanctions imposed on Iran through new markets. That can be done by coordinating prices with the major oil exporting countries.
iii) To damage Israel 's relations with Latin American countries, for example the severing of Israel 's diplomatic relations with both Venezuela and Bolivia during Operation Cast Lead. In addition, such a situation creates an internal political climate which encourages attacks on Jewish communities in Latin America, as witnessed by the vandalizing of the largest synagogue in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.
iv) To create intelligence and terrorism networks which will provide Iran with operational options to respond to events or initiate terrorist attacks against Israel and the United States, under the right circumstances when the order is given. Iran uses its proxy Hezbollah, whose activities and presence are widespread and increased in Latin America, including in ordinary crime such a drug dealing.
v) To spread Iranian, Khomeini-inspired Shi'ite Islam to the non-Muslim communities in Latin America, and at the same time to disseminate the ideology of the Iranian Islamic revolution and Iranian political influence in Muslim communities, especially Shi'ite-Lebanese (part of Iranian activities around the world).
Venezuela and the Islamic Republic of Iran
Iran’s incursion into Venezuela has been extremely lucrative. Venezuela had fostered a good relationship with the former President Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who both shared a hatred of the United States. The two countries had signed economic and military agreements that valued into billions of dollars, but according to reports very few of the joint agreements were successful. But since these agreements were signed under the Chavista era the Nicolas Maduro regime has kept warm relations with Iran.
At the time it appeared that the relationship between Iran and Venezuela was going nowhere whilst both countries weighed up the future with the unrest within the South American country. After a short period of agitation, Maduro appeared to win through. This then made the future more secure and Iran then stepped up its operation to gain a stronger and more secure foothold in Venezuela.
It was reported on the 1st December 2018 that Iran had launched a domestically made navel destroyer which the Iranian state media reported to have radar-evading stealth properties amongst other capabilities. At that time the Iranians also reported that it was to send two or three naval vessels to Venezuela on a mission that could last five months including its latest ship.
On the 4th January 2019 Iran announced that it was deploying warships in the Atlantic Ocean in March 2019 and the operation may take up to five months. The newly built Sahand which was announced in early January 2018 would be part of the flotilla. One of the reasons for sending the small fleet was in response to the fifth fleet presence which was based in Bahrain and an attempt to place pressure on the United States.
It was unsure as to why the Iranians would deploy naval vessels to the area. It is possible that it would remove gold mined in the Venezuela and ship it back to Iran. The possibility of the gold price being used to prop up a falling Iranian economy due to United States sanctions was a potential reason. However, this theory would turn out to be incorrect.
The announcement to deploy the Iranian ships was made before the previous Venezuelan unrest. The vessels may also be used to collect finances from Iran/Hezbollah’s illegal money laundering and drug activities; it would be a safe and secure manner of transporting the money or gold back to Iran without United States or other military navies stopping and searching the vessels.
Venezuelan Gold
Up until the 20th century gold was relied upon to back up hard currency known as the “Gold Standard.” Under this method a government would guarantee that a specific amount of paper money could be redeemed for a fixed quantity of gold held in the reserve. It was replaced by a term known as “flat currencies.”
The gold standard was abandoned in the 2oth century by the United States formally ending the international convertibility of the dollar to gold in 1971. The system was found to be inflexible, making it difficult for governments and central banks to respond effectively to financial crises or manage economic growth, as the money supply was limited by the amount of physical gold available. In a modern flat money system, central banks use monetary policy tools, such as adjusting interest rates, to manage the money supply and stabilize the economy.
While gold no longer directly backs currencies, central banks around the world still hold substantial gold reserves.
In May 2020 Al-Arabiya News reported that out of cash and desperate for help in propping up its oil industry, Venezuela was raiding its gold vaults and handing tons of bars to its long-time ally Iran. Venezuelan government officials piled approximately 9 tons of gold – an amount equal to about $500 million – on Tehran-bound aircraft in May as payment for Iran’s assistance in reviving Venezuela’s crippled gasoline refineries. Venezuela’s 1.3 million-bpd refining network had all but collapsed due to under-investment and lack of maintenance.
Iran was the latest destination for Venezuelan gold after the US cracked down on similar deals that the Nicolas Maduro regime was conducting with Russia and Turkey.
Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro defended the right to “freely trade with Iran,” rejecting criticism following a gasoline vessel sent from the Middle East country to aid the fuel-starved South American nation.
Gasoline and Food
Iran had been sending multiple fuel tankers to Venezuela to address gasoline shortages. The first shipment arrived in a flotilla of tankers that, in defiance of U.S. sanctions, entered Venezuelan waters between 24th May and 31st May 2020, carrying a combined 1.5 million barrels of gasoline. In June another vessel arrived with an estimated 300,000 barrels, and three others brought 820,000 barrels between the 28th September and the 4th October. Between December 2020 and January 2021 another flotilla would have carried 2.3 million barrels. To this total of at least 5 million barrels of gasoline should be added the arrival of 2.1 million barrels of condensate to be used as a diluent for Venezuelan extra-heavy oil.
Venezuela was purchasing sanctioned Iranian oil.
Iran’s oil is heavily sanctioned and looks for outlets to sell the commodity. With Venezuela’s oil industry in shambles, it’s an easy outlet for Iran to sell its oil not just to Venezuela but also to Russia and China. The Maduro government is also under heavy sanctions but with both governments sanctioned the swapping of oil for food and medical supplies works for both countries. (It is important to know that there are no sanctions on Iranian medical supplies)
“The first of an expected five Iranian vessels bringing millions of barrels of gasoline and components arrived,” Maduro said on state TV. The socialist leader thanked the former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei for the deliveries, saying Venezuela has “good and brave friends in the world.”
Maduro defended the deal as part of a previous cooperation agreement. “We, Venezuela and Iran, want peace,” he said. “We have the right to freely trade products throughout the seas of the world.”
The delivery was announced by Vice President for Economy and Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami. “Ships from our sister Islamic Republic of Iran are already in our exclusive economic zone,” El Aissami wrote on Saturday night.
Venezuela’s armed forces escorted the vessel as it entered Venezuelan waters. Iran’s embassy in Caracas also tweeted about the arrival. A second vessel, the Forest, will also soon arrive in Venezuela, Iran’s state TV news reported, without giving more details.
On the 29th September 2020 in open defiance of US sanctions, the Forest, the first of three Iranian oil tankers, had entered Venezuelan territorial waters off the coast of Sucre state with its tracking system turned off, according to reports from MarineTraffic.com and TankerTrackers.com.
The Forest departed Bandar Abbas, Iran, on the 9th August. It is an oil tanker built in 2004 and flies the Iranian flag. Bandar Abbas is a key naval base for Iran, heavily utilized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy for housing assets like drones, missile systems, and fast attack craft, adjacent to the massive Shahid Rajaee commercial port, making it a significant military and trade hub near the Strait of Hormuz.
Major General Seyyed Yahya Safavi, assistant and senior advisor to the Supreme Commander of the Iranian Armed Forces, confirmed the entire process involving the shipment of gasoline to Venezuela, which was paid for with gold. We gave gasoline to Venezuela and obtained gold bars and brought the gold to Iran by plane so that nothing would happen to it."
Caracas and Tehran Direct Flights
Venezuela becomes even more important to Iran and is seen as the backdoor to the United States. On the 9th April 2019 the Iranians sent a delegation to Venezuela to discuss direct commercial flights between the two countries. Iran’s ‘Mahan Air’ in March 2019 had adopted this route but in 2018 Mahan was sanctioned by the office of Foreign Asset Control and banned by Germany, France and later Italy for transporting military aid to Syria in 2008. As of January 2020, Mahan Air is not allowed to operate flights into Europe as it has been blacklisted. But, still operates between Asia and Africa.
Mahan Airlines was banned between 2019 – 2020 from Germany, France, Italy and Spain due to its involvement with the Maduro government in Venezuela and the Assad regime in Syria. In 2024 the airline was sanctioned by the European Union for transporting weapons to Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian War.
On the 13th January 2025, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) announced that flights between Iran and Europe would resume on the 31st January 2025. The first route to reopen will be between Tehran and Paris, operated by Iranian private carrier Iran Airtour Airlines.
Flights between Iran and Europe were suspended in mid-October 2024 after the European Union imposed sanctions on Iran over allegations it had sent drones to Russia for use in the Ukraine war. Those sanctions specifically targeted Iran Air, Saha Airlines and Mahan Air, although the allegations were dismissed by the Iranian authorities who strongly protested against the aviation bans, which it said only affected the Iranian citizens living and working in Europe.
Currently there is a lot of sea and air traffic between Iran and Venezuela. According to the web page of Skyscanner there are 58 flights per week. Iran is well known for smuggling weapons and other military logistics on commercial airlines, this leads to the possibility of a similar action. With no real ability to check on manifests or cargos as they leave their destination the capacity to abuse this to Iran’s own gains leaves it wide open. In 2010 Turkish officials seized 22 Iranian shipping containers bound for Venezuela which were labelled as ‘tractor parts’ but reportedly contained material for an explosive laboratory.
Venezuela-Iran ghost flights: The Venezuela-Iran ghost flights are clandestine and irregular flight routes from Venezuela to Iran and back. Some flights would pass through Syria and Paraguay. These flights, known as "aeroterror", were closed to the public and operated by sanctioned airlines such as Conviasa, Emtrasur Cargo, and Mahan Air. Due to their alleged role in facilitating the transport of weapons, gold, sanctioned cargo, and personnel linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah, these flights raised international concern.
These ghost flights were mainly operated by Mahan Air.
Supermarket
On the 22nd June 2020 Iran and Venezuela announce that an Iranian supermarket would open in Venezuela. On the 6th July 2020 a conglomerate owned by the Iranian military and tied to Iran’s ‘missile program’ established a retail foothold in Venezuela. The Etka, an Iranian company subordinate to the Iranian Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces (MODAFL) and tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) company opened the supermarket called Megasis with the purpose of boosting the production of Iranian commodities.
The store covers an area of 20,000 sq. mtrs and sells more than 2,500 Iranian items. Such as foodstuff, clothing, detergents, plastic disposable products, nuts and even tractors. The Iranian population voiced their dismay especially as millions lived below the poverty line and the government was “unable to assist” their needs for society. Rising inflation, growing unemployment, a slump in the rial due to sanctions would not help Iran. It is possible that this supermarket may be used to launder money.
There are primary controversies and allegations surrounding the supermarket.
One Million Hectares of Land in Venezuela
In September 2022 an Iranian official said on Iranian PRESSTV that Venezuela had agreed to provide one million hectares of agricultural land for Iran’s overseas cultivation projects to secure food.
Announcing the agreement, Ali Rezvanizadeh said Venezuela could provide a better opportunity than Brazil and Russia for Iran’s overseas agricultural projects, including growing crops of soy beans and corn.
Experts say the biggest advantage of overseas cultivation for Iran is preserving its precious water resources. Iran’s agriculture uses around 85 percent of all available water resources. It would also potentially contribute to the country’s food security, a great concern of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who has been an ardent promoter of agricultural self-sufficiency over the past three decades.
Iran is currently (2025) suffering from its worst ever drought. Although blamed on climate change the main reasons are mismanagement, corruption and the building of water dams in the wrong place are other reasons which is not readily admitted by the Iranian government. Farmland in Tehran has practically dried up over the years for lack of water.
Venezuela, Iran and Long-Range Missiles
In February 2012 in a paper written by Norman A Bailey for the American Foreign Policy Council, titled; “Iran’s Venezuelan Gateway,” pointed out on page four that, “Recent reports that Iran has established missile bases in Venezuela, however, remain unconfirmed. Recently on the 23rd August 2020 A Reuters article titled; “Maduro says Venezuela buying Iranian missiles ‘a good idea’.
Should this occur then we may see a similar action to that of the Soviets in 1962 attempting to place nuclear weapons on Cuban territory. Fortunately, the Soviets/Russians backed down and war was avoided.
If Iran sold missiles to Venezuela, then there would have been a possibility that the Venezuelans could produce their own missiles under Iranian influence and guidance. This would then place the Americans in direct contact similar to the Palestinians Vs Israel the Houthis Vs Saudi Arabians (2nd April 2015 – Present). Iran allows Hezbollah, Hamas and other affiliates along with Yemen’s Houthis building their own drones and missiles from technology supplied by Iran.
With the coast of Florida in the United States being approximately 1,200 miles away from Venezuela the southern part of certain areas in the United States are reachable. The Sejjil medium range ballistic missile (MRBM) has a range of 1,250 miles and the Soumar cruise missile has a range of 1,250 – 1,850 miles Iran through its new proxy (Venezuela) could easily reach the United States. It must also be remembered that Iran is constantly working on longer range missiles for ‘defence’ purposes. If they continue to research greater missile distances and have them stationed in Venezuela then more of the United States would become a target.
On the 26th October 2020 in a report by Fox News, that the United States warned that it would destroy potential Iranian long-range missile shipments delivered to the Maduro regime in Venezuela, a senior administration official informed Fox News.
"The transfer of long-range missiles from Iran to Venezuela is not acceptable to the United States and will not be tolerated or permitted," said Elliott Abrams, the State Department Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela.
"We will make every effort to stop shipments of long-range missiles, and if somehow they get to Venezuela they will be eliminated there," added a senior administration official.
However, on the 3rd October 2025 the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) [a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy research organization that advances an informed understanding of military affairs through reliable research, trusted analysis, and innovative education] Iran update explained that; Venezuela recently requested military equipment, including drones, from Iran amid heightened tensions between Venezuela and the United States, according to internal US government documents obtained by The Washington Post. It is unclear if Iran is willing and able to export drones and other military equipment to Venezuela after the Israel-Iran War.
Venezuelan Transport Minister Ramon Celestino Velasquez reportedly “coordinated a shipment of military equipment and drones from Iran” and informed Iran that it requires “passive detection equipment,” GPS jamming devices, and drones with a range of 1,000 kilometres (approximately 600 miles).
Iran has outsourced some of its drone production to Venezuela over the past decade, including the production of Mohajer-6 drones, which have a range of 200 kilometres (approximately 124 miles).
Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei stated on the 3rd November that Venezuela can defend itself, but that Iran will “certainly” continue to cooperate with Venezuela.
It’s possible that the government of Iran will support Venezuela as it did with its proxies, Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah. The only support they had during the latest round of conflict was the selling of drones, missiles, weapons and ammunition with encouragement but at the last-minute Iran never stepped up to the mark to assist them leaving their proxies to face their fate with only words of support from Iran.
Prior to the ISW report the Iranian Tehran Times wrote; Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil Pinto has expressed his gratitude to Iran for backing the Latin American nation in the face of US military threats and pressure.
The presidents developed a notably close personal and political relationship, highlighted by frequent state visits, public demonstrations of solidarity, and formal agreements spanning the economic, energy, and industrial sectors. Today, both countries maintain comprehensive diplomatic ties via their official embassies and frequent high-level exchanges. The partnership intensified under current Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and includes regular presidential meetings, official delegation visits, and joint commission sessions.
Iran has used this leverage to establish a robust foothold in Latin America, constructing a dense network involving both direct state-to-state links and the integration of proxy actors like Hezbollah. The bilateral relationship has been solidified by defence pacts, including a 20-year agreement signed in 2022, and joint manufacturing of Iranian drones and weapons on Venezuelan soil, including potential deployments of loitering munitions and jamming devices.
On the 11th December 2025 Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has unveiled a new jet-powered, stealth-oriented suicide drone, designed to evade modern air defences with high speed and low radar visibility. Named the Hadid-110, it emphasizes speed, stealth, and rapid deployment.
According to specifications listed by the US military’s OE Data Integration Network, with its jet engine, the Hadid-110 can reportedly fly up to 517 km. an hour at an altitude of 90,000 m. and reach targets some 350 km. away – making it Iran’s fastest flying UAS to date.
Although this UAS could not reach the United States from Venezuela in the hands of a Mexican drug cartel it would do. The question that needs to be asked is how long would it be before these drones are manufactured in Venezuela under Iranian supervision and used by those who seek vengeance against the United States?
Economically, the alliance is built on mutual circumvention of Western sanctions.
Iran is actively assisting Venezuela's arms industry, a relationship that includes technology transfer, joint manufacturing of drones, and the potential transfer of missile systems. This cooperation, which circumvents international sanctions, is a key component of a broader strategic anti-Western alliance between the two nations.
Key Areas of Cooperation
Drone Production: Iran has played a central role in the development of Venezuela's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program. As early as 2012, Venezuela confirmed it was producing drones with Iranian assistance. Venezuelan state-owned manufacturer, Compañía Anónima Venezolana de Industrias Militares (CAVIM), produces models based on Iranian designs like the Mohajer-2 (known locally as the Arpia) and the advanced attack-capable Mohajer-6. Reports indicate that Iranian personnel control some of these production facilities in Venezuela.
Missile Technology: There have been reports and accusations over the years concerning discussions and potential agreements for the transfer or joint development of missile technology. In 2022, Israel's Defence Minister alleged that Iran had provided Venezuela with precision-guided missiles for use with the Mohajer-6 drones.
Military and Technical Expertise: Iranian military advisors and technical teams are present in Venezuela, assisting not only with arms production but also with other relevant infrastructure like oil refineries, which helps sustain the overall partnership. The cooperation also extends to using civilian airliners, such as those operated by Conviasa and Mahan Air, as a "dual-use logistical route" for potentially transporting military hardware and personnel.
Circumvention of Sanctions: Both countries are heavily sanctioned by Western powers and use various methods, including oil-for-gold barter systems and opaque financial transactions involving state-owned companies like PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela, SA is a Venezuelan state-owned company whose main activities are the exploration, production, refining, marketing and transportation of Venezuelan oil, as well as the orimulsion, chemical, petrochemical and coal businesses) and CAVIM, (The Venezuelan Military Industries Corporation is a public company in Venezuela dedicated to the development of weaponry, ammunition, explosives, military machinery and technological development used by the Armed Forces) to fund and conceal these military projects and transfers.
Strategic Alliance: The military cooperation is underpinned by a deep political alliance and a shared anti-U.S. posture, formalized by a 20-year cooperation agreement signed in 2022. The relationship provides Iran with a strategic foothold in Latin America, which U.S. officials view as a security threat.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in August 2020 said it would be a “good idea” to look into buying missiles from Iran, a day after Colombia said Venezuela was considering such a plan amid growing ties between Caracas and Tehran.
“It had not occurred to me, it had not occurred to us,” Maduro said during a televised broadcast with cabinet members, instructing Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino to follow up and jokingly telling his cabinet to keep the plan a secret. “Padrino, what a good idea, to speak with Iran to see what short, medium and long-range missiles they have, and if it is possible, given the great relations we have with Iran.”
Colombian President Ivan Duque said that Maduro was looking to buy Iranian missiles and is handing over weapons made in Russia and Belarus to Colombian armed groups. Maduro said Duque’s statement was a “good idea” he had not yet considered. “If it is possible and convenient, we will buy those missiles.”
The United States Builds a Military Presence off the Coast of Venezuela
Trump has made stopping immigration a priority during his second term in office and he blames Maduro for the arrival of a large number of Venezuelan migrants in the US. Since 2013, close to eight million Venezuelans are estimated to have fled the economic crisis and political repression in Venezuela, which have become worse under Maduro.
Most have fled to Latin American countries, but hundreds of thousands have gone to the US. Trump has also focused on fighting the influx of drugs - especially fentanyl and cocaine - into the US.
As part of his war on drugs, he has designated two Venezuelan criminal groups - Tren de Aragua and Cartel de los Soles - as Foreign Terrorist Organisations and has alleged that the latter is led by Maduro himself.
Maduro has vehemently denied being a cartel leader and has accused the US of using its "war on drugs" as an excuse to try and depose him and get its hands on Venezuela's vast reserves of oil.
The US has deployed 15,000 troops and a range of aircraft carriers, guided-missile destroyers, and amphibious assault ships to the Caribbean. The stated aim of the deployment - the largest in the region since the US invaded Panama in 1989 - is to stop the flow of fentanyl and cocaine to the US.
Since early September 2025, US forces have carried out more than 20 strikes in international waters on boats alleged to have been carrying drugs. More than 80 people have been killed in the strikes.
In mid-November 2025, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Operation Southern Spear would begin later in November, with a fleet using robotics and autonomous systems to target Latin American drug trafficking.
Air Space
While Venezuela has authority over its airspace, on 29 November, Trump announced on social media that airspace over the country should be considered entirely closed, days after he stated that the US would begin to strike land targets "very soon". The Washington Post stated that "such a move is sometimes a first step ahead of airstrikes"; while Trump cannot legally close Venezuela's airspace and he did not impose a no-fly zone, the "threat ... might be enough to prompt commercial airlines to halt flights over Venezuela". Venezuelan officials condemned Trump's statement as a "colonialist threat", stating that Venezuela rejects "orders, threats, or interference from any foreign power."
“On behalf of the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela and our President Nicolás Maduro, we wish to express our sincere appreciation for the firm condemnation made by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding the recent unilateral action by the United States to declare the closure of Venezuelan airspace,” Pinto said in a post on his Telegram page shared on 30th November.
Boat seizure
On the 10th December 2025 the United States military seized a Venezuelan oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. US Attorney General Pam Bondi later said that the tanker was used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.
The vessel, the Skipper, was named the Adisa when it was sanctioned. The 2022 Treasury statement listed it alongside eight other vessels that it said were part of “a vast, complex, and interwoven global network of front companies that are used to facilitate oil shipments” for a smuggling network.
The operation involved “blending oil to conceal the Iranian origins of the shipments and exporting it around the world in support of Hezbollah and the IRGC-QF,” through a network of shell companies in the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, and Singapore, it added.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said; "For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations," she wrote on social media. “Our investigation alongside the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil continues.”
The Iranian embassy in Caracas on the 11th December condemned the United States’ seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker off the South American country’s coast, calling the operation “piracy in the Caribbean Sea” and a clear breach of international law. The embassy said in a statement that the action violated fundamental global norms.
"The illegal move by the US government to seize a Venezuelan oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea without any justified or legal reason constitutes a blatant violation of international laws and regulations, including the inviolable principle of freedom of the seas and navigation,” it said.
“‘Piracy in the Caribbean Sea' is the most appropriate title for this unlawful and unjustified move by the US, which seeks to achieve its goals by resorting to illegitimate measures, violation of national sovereignty, infringement of others’ rights, and the promotion of anarchism,” it added.
Re-Org
Will Venezuela become America’s next arena against Iran?
The unveiling of the United States Operation Southern Spear (13th November 2025) by US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, came just before the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas (10th October 2025) and nearly a year after the Hezbollah/Israel ceasefire (27th November 2024).
Both Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran have lucrative dealings with Venezuela and reap handsome rewards from those transactions with the Maduro government.
The United States Naval task-force off of the coast of Venezuela maybe a long-term plan to exert pressure on Maduro to step aside and hold genuine and authentic elections which would see him replaced with a lawful government.
If the United States assisted an opposition party or a pro-American president with military aid the whole illegal industry that Iran and Hezbollah have set up over the years would be in jeopardy. The action would be a blow in propping up the Iranian economy now and in the future bringing a greater strain to the country and the current sanctioned theocratic leadership.
A pro-U.S. president in place with assistance in rebuilding the former socialist government could then be used to curb the narcotics trade and reduce Iranian and Hezbollah dependency which in turn would create a problem for the Iranian government and the income for Hezbollah. Iran is already under strict U.S., EU and international sanctions. By denying Iran and Hezbollah large sums of revenue would create financial difficulties for both. Funds they would have to find elsewhere in order to prop up their proxies.
Hezbollah is already having problems receiving funds from Iran since the down fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria (8th December 2024). By halting finances from Venezuela as well it would create immense difficulties for the Iranian-backed terrorist group. Hezbollah in its operations against Israel and Iran in supporting and funding its proxies.
So, the build-up of Naval forces by the United States may have other Operational Requirements (OR’s) and not just the reduction of narcotics and the refugees seeking a new life in other Latin America countries and the US. There may be a secondary OR that we are not yet familiar with.
There is also the threat by Iran using Venezuela as a staging point for attacks on the south of the United States. With U.S. President waging war on drug cartels and damaging their drug business it may be that the cartels closest to the United States become launch platforms for drones’ and missiles into America.
Iran still has scores to settle against America for the deaths of its military personnel and its nuclear program. But it will depend on if Iran wants to sacrifice Venezuela. With the reduction of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in a rebuild situation and the Houthis slowly building its resources it’s hardly likely that Iran would martyr Venezuela and lose what it has in South America.
Paul Ashley
RSS Feed