Originally published on the CGS blog on February 6, 2012.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on Iran entitled “Ahmadinejad’s Tour of Tyrants and Iran’s Agenda in the Western Hemisphere” last Thursday. The consensus of the committee was that Iran’s presence in Latin America is too close for comfort. The “Tour of Tyrants,” which spanned Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Cuba, raised questions as to what intentions Iran has for Latin America. Ahmadinejad continues to attempt to reach out to these counties, even recently releasing an Iranian Spanish channel.
Some committee members see Iran’s interest in Latin America as an attempt to gain new ground for plots against the United States. The recent Iranian car bomb assassination attempt of the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States was seen as further evidence that an Iranian attack on U.S. soil is not a stretch of the imagination. In a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Iran denied any responsibility for this assassination attempt.
The real question is: what do these Latin American countries hope to gain from Iran? Representative Eliot Engel believes that these countries are looking for financial aid from Iran. While this may be true, Iran has not been delivering on its promises of aid. When questioning the intentions of Venezuela, Representative Berman quoted President Obama in saying “it is up to the Venezuelan people to determine what they gain from a relationship with a country that violates universal human rights and is isolated from much of the world.” Other countries in Latin America have turned their backs on the Iranian regime, including Brazil. With the looming threat of a nuclear Iran, it will be important to keep a close watch on the dealings of this country in the Western Hemisphere.
