JULY 2024
Russia and Iran in
Latin America
Same Outlook, Similar Playbooks
By Henry Ziemer, Tina Dolbaia, and Mathieu Droin
I
n January 2023, Venezuelan authorities inaugurated a mural in the capital, Caracas, in honor
of Qasem Soleimani, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–Quds Force leader who was killed
by a U.S. drone attack in 2020. Soleimani, a prominent gure of the Islamic Revolution and
Tehran’s ultraconservative, theocratic regime, is depicted standing alongside former Venezuelan
president Hugo Chávez, leader of the country’s Bolivarian Revolution—a movement that has been
deemed socially progressive and vigorously secular. Given these contradictions, what are the ties
that bind these two gures?
The cement of the relationship between
Venezuela and Iran is perhaps best described
by the adage “the enemy of my enemy is my
friend.” Their shared priority is to ensure
their respective regimes’ survival in the face of
perceived threats, with the United States as the
primary foe. Ayatollah Khomeini, the rst leader
of the Islamic republic, dubbed the United States
the “Great Satan,” while Chávez referred to
former U.S. president George W. Bush as “the
devil.” This rhetoric and outlook matches that of
Russia and other active rejecters of the U.S.-led
international order; indeed, Russian president
Vladimir Putin has spoken out against the
“collective West” in Ukraine.
A motorcyclist passes in front of the mural of
Soleimani and Chávez in Caracas, Venezuela.
Photo: EDERICO PARRA/AFP via Getty Images
