Why Iran Is Watching Venezuela After Maduro’s Capture (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Why is the Iranian regime keeping a close eye on Venezuela? Let me explain. Over the past nine days, Iran has seen protests spread nationwide over deteriorating economic conditions. And now, Tehran's closest ally in the Western Hemisphere, Nicolas Maduro, has been captured in a U.S. military operation and taken back to the States to stand trial. Both Iran and Venezuela are oil-rich nations dealing with collapsed economies worsened further by crippling U.S. sanctions. There have long been adversaries of the United States, and U.S. President Donald Trump has issued direct threats against both regimes. These similarities have led some observers to question whether a U.S. military operation, just like the one we saw in Venezuela, could also target Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. But it's quite unlikely that that exactly would happen. There are actually a lot of differences between both countries. First, their political climates are quite different. Iran is a theocratic republic with an ideology deep-rooted in Shia Islam, while Venezuela is a socialist and secular state. At the same time, Iran has long suspected that the U.S. is after regime change, and therefore they've built this formidable arsenal of ballistic missiles and drones and proxy groups that are strategically placed close to U.S. interests in the region. And when Israel struck Iran and a 12-day war started back in June, Iranians across the political spectrum and even the opposition united, revealing this aversion to foreign intervention or foreign military strikes on their nation. So it's a bit more complex than just a simple comparison. But perhaps a consequence of what happened in Venezuela is an Iranian regime who are already labelling protesters as rioters, mercenaries and foreign disruptors, cracking down harder on the opposition, who are yearning for change.