From this photo released by the Venezuelan presidency press service, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro (left) listens to Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, November 21, 2024. MARCELO GARCIA/PRESIDENCE VENEZUELIENNE VIA AFP
The Islamic Republic of Iran, threatened with military action by Donald Trump should it violently suppress the protest movement sparked by the rapid devaluation of its currency, is oscillating between vehement rhetoric and denial in the face of a looming regime change scenario in Venezuela. Caracas is a rare and distant ally of Tehran with which it has developed close economic and military relations.
"Every time [the US] repeats these types of actions, the result is doomed to fail," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghtchi reassured himself as he appeared before the National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee of the Iranian Parliament in Tehran on Monday, January 5, just two days after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was captured by US forces. Four days before the American attack, the Venezuelan military had officially commissioned Iranian Mohajer-6 combat drones, which have also been deployed by Russia in Ukraine.
