Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro is expanding a partnership with Iran designed to help both countries resist American economic sanctions, according to U.S. officials.
“We’ve seen Iran now sending more and more planes to Venezuela, particularly this week,” State Department special representative Elliott Abrams, the lead diplomat for the Venezuela crisis, said Thursday. “And we think, our guess, is that they’re being paid in gold and that those planes that are coming in from Iran that are bringing things for the oil industry are returning with the payment for those things: gold.”
That exchange could help the Maduro regime obtain supplies needed to repair “decrepit” oil facilities, according to Abrams, while the financial reward for an Iranian regime laboring under U.S. economic sanctions is also clear. President Trump has authorized maximum pressure campaigns against both nations, so the link between the rogue governments is a natural target for U.S. pressure. “Birds of a feather,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters on Wednesday. “These flights must stop, and countries should do their part to deny overflights, just as many have already denied landing rights to this sanctioned airline.”
Pompeo hinted that the planes could be ferrying more than oil industry cargo to Caracas. “Over the last few days, multiple aircraft belonging to Mahan Air have transferred unknown support to the Maduro regime,” he said. “This is the same terrorist airline that Iran uses to move weapons and fighters around the Middle East.”
Those flights underscore the fragility of Maduro’s position, Abrams argued, as they contain a hint that his other foreign support is drying up.
“I think the Chinese are, frankly, sick and tired of putting money in and not getting repaid,” he said. “And we’ve seen Chinese projects in Venezuela that just get stopped as soon as they stop getting their repayments.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin might feel an incentive to support Maduro “because Putin’s interest really is geopolitical, here, not financial,” he acknowledged. Even so, “neither Russia nor China is willing to give their great friend, Maduro, a dime,” Abrams observed. “And everybody wants cash on the barrelhead.”
