"As recently as 2022, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei welcomed Maduro to Tehran, praising the Venezuelan strongman's "resistance" against America and his "anti-Zionist positions," adding: "No two countries are as close as we are.""
"Khamenei also promised that Iran would "come to the aid of its friends when they are faced with danger.""
"But when American troops rousted Maduro and his wife from bed early on the morning of January 3, neither Khamenei nor his more powerful allies in Moscow and Beijing came to the rescue."
"The blow couldn't come at a worse time for Iran's dictator. Khamenei's regime faces a new round of street protests and a deepening economic crisis. Iran's 12-day war with Israel and America ended inconclusively last year; the possibility of renewed attacks is never far from mind."
Tehran's long-standing anti-American alliance with Venezuela collapsed when American forces removed Nicolás Maduro on January 3, leaving Iran unable to intervene. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had publicly praised Maduro's "resistance" and vowed to aid friends in danger, but neither Tehran nor its Moscow and Beijing partners prevented the capture. The loss follows recent failures to protect allies such as Bashar al-Assad and setbacks inflicted by Israeli strikes on Iran-backed militias. The timing compounds domestic pressures on Khamenei's regime, which faces street protests, economic crisis, and lingering threats after a 12-day clash with Israel and the United States.
Read at The Atlantic
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