Iran Backs Maduro Amid U.S. Military Pressure in Caribbean

Iran has publicly declared its support for Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro as the Trump administration intensifies military operations in the Caribbean and expands its crackdown on criminal networks linked to the Caracas regime.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei issued a warning about “dangerous repercussions” from U.S. military activity in the region, claiming these operations threaten “international peace and security,” according to Iran’s official news agency, IRNA. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Iván Gil Pinto immediately welcomed Tehran’s support, thanking Iran for its “solidarity with the Venezuelan people.”

Former Venezuelan diplomat Isaias Medina III, who resigned from his position at the U.N. Security Council in 2017 due to Maduro’s human rights violations, characterized the Iran-Venezuela partnership as “far from a principled stand for ‘sovereign rights'” under the U.N. Charter.

“It is a calculated strategy serving mutual interests in criminal enterprise and asymmetric warfare, posing a direct and evolving threat to U.S. national security,” Medina told Fox News Digital. “This is a partnership for power, not principles. Iran’s engagement centers on deepening military, criminal, and intelligence cooperation that blatantly disregards international norms.”

The Trump administration has signaled it may take stronger action against Venezuela. When asked whether he had ruled out deploying U.S. troops to the region, President Donald Trump told reporters, “No, I don’t rule out that, I don’t rule out anything. We just have to take care of Venezuela. They dumped hundreds of thousands of people into our country from prisons.”

Security experts view Iran’s public defense of Venezuela as evidence of Tehran’s strategic concerns. Danny Citrinowicz, a senior fellow at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, explained that “Iran is extremely worried that it’s going to lose its main hub in Latin America.”

“Losing Maduro will be a strategic loss for Iran, because Venezuela is a strategic hub, not only for the activity in Venezuela itself, but also activity in Latin America in general,” Citrinowicz said.

He pointed to a recently exposed Iranian-linked plot to assassinate Israel’s ambassador in Mexico as evidence of how Iran uses Venezuelan territory as a staging ground for regional operations. “The Iranians used their presence in Venezuela, mainly the Quds Force presence, in order to gather the right people that actually tried to commit this attack,” Citrinowicz noted.

Venezuela has historically served as Iran’s most important foothold in the Western Hemisphere. While Iran maintains relationships with Cuba and Nicaragua, Venezuela has provided the Islamic Republic with “enough room to operate” across the region. Tehran has already lost one longtime ally after recent elections in Bolivia, making the preservation of the Maduro regime even more critical for Iranian interests.

When asked about direct Iranian support for the Venezuelan military, Citrinowicz confirmed that “They have advisors on the ground. They can help the Venezuelan army, and they can also send arms via Qeshm Fars Air flights flying from Tehran to Caracas. They did that in the past, and they can do that even today.”

The U.S. has ramped up pressure on Venezuela-linked criminal networks in recent weeks. On Tuesday, the State Department designated the Venezuela-based Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, a move welcomed by anti-cartel advocacy groups.

Adriana Jones, President of American Families Against Cartel Terrorism (AmFACT), called the designation “an important reminder that the Trump administration is willing to use Foreign Terrorist Organization designations to combat dangerous drug and human trafficking cartels.” Jones, whose sister and four children were murdered in a 2019 Juárez cartel massacre, urged similar designations for other criminal organizations.

Since September, U.S. forces have conducted at least 21 fatal strikes on vessels allegedly involved in narcotics trafficking off Central and South America. The most recent strike occurred on Sunday, as part of what officials describe as a widening campaign to disrupt maritime routes connected to Venezuelan criminal networks.

The escalating tensions between Washington and Caracas, coupled with Iran’s public support for Maduro, highlight the complex geopolitical alliances challenging U.S. interests in the Western Hemisphere and the growing intersection between terrorism, narcotics trafficking, and state-sponsored criminal enterprises.