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Vanessa Neumann, ambassador of the interim government of Juan Guaidó to the United Kingdom, reported that the Iranian regime began recruiting “sympathizers” while reinforcing its presence in Venezuela.
“These are things that come out of the cultural section of the Iranian embassy. It is something that seems normal; they seek new friends; they encourage you to study more about the wonders of the Farsi language of Iran,” explained Ambassador Vanessa Neumann.
The ambassador’s statements came during a virtual conference in which she said that the Iranian regime and Hezbollah are working “in parallel” to recruit people who “hate the United States.”
Neumann also claimed that one of the main objectives of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah is to take over the “administration of the government” of Venezuela through Tareck El Aissami, the illegitimate oil minister of Nicolás Maduro.
“Hezbollah approaches young people to see if they are interested in fighting. Some have been taken to study in Iran and Lebanon and then asked to join the battlefield,” Rafael Rosell, rector of Chile’s Pedro de Valdivia University, said at the same conference.
Neumann and Rosell’s statements coincide with the analysis of Joseph Humire, global security specialist, and executive director of the Center for a Free and Secure Society, who told the PanAm Post that Maduro and Iran are moving their chips so that Donald Trump will lose the election.
Humire explained that for over 35 years, Iran had built the potential to have a military presence in the region, and in the last 15 years, Chávez and Maduro have given it that capability.
“Iran has built a dual-use infrastructure. It builds companies as a façade, which at first sight are legitimate, but behind that, there are hidden uses,” he says.
“For example, Iran has an auto industry in Venezuela, and at first sight, it is a legitimate business, but when it makes shipments of auto parts, it can hide other material such as explosives, minerals, or raw material for weapons,” he explained.
Humire pointed out that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the Persian country’s special forces branch, has been present in the South American country for approximately 15 years. But he believes that it is no coincidence that it is now being done so publicly.
“They want to legitimize their presence in Venezuela. Iran is preparing to say it does not recognize U.S. sanctions and will seek to provoke a potential transfer of arms to Maduro. It will seek to turn the international community against the United States,” said the specialist
“This is going to happen weeks before the U.S. election, and it’s going to put Trump in a difficult position where he’s going to have to decide whether to do something to prevent the shipment of weapons from Iran to Venezuela, or whether to let it go,” he added.
Iran and Venezuela share a mutual contempt for the United States, which has imposed various sanctions on their respective economies. The relationship between the two nations is a threat to the United States since the regime in the South American country has allowed the Iranian terrorist group Hezbollah to use their territory as a base to expand into Latin America.
