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Essay / Relations between Iran, Cuba and Venezuela
It's no secret that Iran, Venezuela and Cuba have a close relationship, especially since they are all basically dictatorships. Iran is under the control of a supreme leader who is supposed to be a democracy, while Venezuela and Cuba are actually dictatorships. But their relationship is above all anti-American. They help each other with funding, weapons, intelligence and many other things such as protecting criminals wanted by the United States. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayCuba is known for funding terrorist groups outside the country like Al-Queda, Hezbollah, and Hamas. Ghazi Nasr Al di and Fawzi Kanaan, two Shia Arabs, were sent to Caracas, Venezuela, to be under the protection of the Venezuelan government. From there, they work with the Cuban government to promote Hezbollah and Iranian targets in South America and against the United States. They also raise funds for Hezbollah and help Hezbollah militants travel to Venezuela and neighboring countries. For example, there are reports that they smuggled narcotics and terrorists into the United States via Mexico, as well as weapons and explosives, under Iranian diplomatic cover. Nor would it be the first time that Cuba has financed groups that are not considered acceptable by the rest of the world or even by the sanctions imposed. In 2013, the UN arrested them in violation of their sanctions. Cuba successfully smuggled weapons from Cuba to North Korea under Castro's government. The UN report found that Cuba had "a comprehensive and planned strategy to conceal the existence and nature of the cargo." Furthermore, “part, if not all, of the shipment was not to be returned to Cuba. “In 2014, the Castro government also admitted to facilitating terrorist financing and said it would begin freezing bank assets linked to Al-Qaeda. The first evidence of relations between Iran and Venezuela dates back to 2001, when Hugo Chavez, former President of Venezuela, contacted then Iranian President Mohamed Khatami to develop strong ties with the Iranian government. He wanted to focus specifically on energy production, the economy and industrial cooperation. He said the reason he is visiting Iran is to "prepare the path of peace, justice, stability and progress for the 21st century." Since then, Chavez has supported Iran's nuclear program. After Khatami, came President Ahmadinejad who, with Chavez, declared himself opposed to “American imperialism”. At one point, Venezuela had an interest in selling F-16 Fighting Falcons to Iran but, following intense controversy, they backed out and although it has made clear its support for Iran's nuclear program, it denies intending to build an atomic weapon with Iran. When Chávez died, President Ahmadinejad in 2013 expressed online in a personal tribute that "Chavez would return on the day of resurrection with religious figures such as Jesus." A country's economy is very important and when oil prices started to fall in 2015, Venezuela and Iran joined forces to stabilize oil prices. In January 2015, Maduro visited Iran, as a stop on his tour of other OPEC countries. Maduro and Rouhani agreed that falling oil prices were a result of increased fracking in the United States, as well as the fact that their common enemiesused oil prices as a “political ploy”. Rouhani said Iran and Venezuela would join forces to thwart the strategies of world powers and stabilize prices at a reasonable level in 2015. At the time, Venezuelan oil accounted for more than 95 percent of revenues. export of the country, with the price of the barrel. a drop by half since 2014. In June 2015, Iran and Venezuela signed a series of agreements to finance joint investments and improve the supply of goods, with Maduro announcing: "These are six agreements." of major importance for the economy of our countries. "The countries agreed to jointly finance a nanotechnology research program, and Maduro said he had obtained goods needed by the Venezuelan people, such as medicines and surgical equipment. Iran's Minister of Industry, Mines and Commerce reportedly said the deal was preliminary, subject to review by Iran's Finance Ministry. On November 23, 2015, Maduro and Rouhani met in Tehran during Maduro's second visit to the country this year. - there, and the fifth of a senior Venezuelan official During the meetings, the presidents announced that they were reaffirming their country's mutual alliance. In January 2016, Maduro and Rouhani reportedly held telephone talks. during which Maduro reportedly called on Rouhani to promote the adoption of measures to restore oil prices on the global market, with Maduro calling for a meeting of OPEC members to address the issue and congratulating Rouhani for the recent sanctions rollbacks. As stated previously, all of these regimes have a common goal: to go against the United States. The three regimes are increasingly coordinating their policies and resources in a three-way partnership aimed at thwarting and circumventing U.S. policy in the Middle East and Latin America. So much so that when President Maduro won the elections, Venezuela and Cuba felt that America was giving up its interference in their governments, because for a very long time the United States has been trying to isolate the two countries in order not to not be able to influence the countries around them. In addition to this, Cuba has proven technical know-how to interfere and intercept American telecommunications; Cuba has deployed a highly effective human intelligence network throughout the world. The type of espionage carried out by Ana Belen Montes, the senior U.S. defense intelligence analyst who spied for Cuba for about 16 years until her arrest in 2001, allowed the Castro regime to obtain enormous amount of intelligence on American vulnerabilities as well as an appropriate understanding of the structure of the American security system. Such information and analysis was provided to Saddam Hussein before the US invasion of Iraq and is currently being provided to a strategic ally like Iran. Although it can be argued that factors such as Iran's limited military capabilities and its obvious distance from the United States mitigate any conventional concerns, it is to be expected that Iran, in the event of a conflict between the United States and Iran, launches an asymmetric offensive against the United States and its European allies. through neighboring terrorist states and paramilitary organizations. In such a scenario, Cuban intelligence would be extremely valuable to Iran and its proxies as well as terrorist groups could use Cuban territory to launch operations against the United States. At the same time, the FBI estimates that Cuba has served as a refuge for tons of fugitives from the United States who live on the island under the protection of the regimeCastroist. Some of these fugitives are accused of or have been convicted of murder, kidnapping, and hijacking, and they include notorious murderers of New Jersey and New Mexico police officers, the most prominent among them Joanne Chesimard, placed by the FBI in 2013 on the “List of Most Wanted Terrorists”. » However, Cuba does not only do things behind the curtains. In 1996, Cuba ordered two Cuban Air Force pilots, Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez and General Ruben Martinez Puente, to shoot down two unarmed American civilian aircraft over the international waters of the Florida Straits. . The United States has issued indictments against these two pilots, who are obviously not recognized by Cuba. This act of terrorism, directly ordered by Fidel and Raul Castro, killed four men, including three American citizens. Before the Barjam, Tehran's support for Cuba was significant. Since 2005, Cuba has received a total of more than one dollar. 2 billion loans from Iran. With this money, Cuba was able to make the investments necessary to restore Soviet-era infrastructure. In total, Iran is financing around 60 projects, including the acquisition of 750 Iranian-made rail cars and the construction of structures such as power plants, dams and highways. Recently, Saudi Arabia has also tried to strengthen its ties with Cuba. In April, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir visited Cuba for two days. Relations between Saudi Arabia and Cuba date back to 1956, with the Kingdom opening its embassy in Havana in 2011. In May 2017, King Salman spoke in Jeddah with Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas and they agreed on economic cooperation between them. Saudi Arabia has also provided loans to Cuba through the Saudi Development Fund to finance projects worth more than $80 million. This is no longer a concern for the United States. In reality, Iran should be worried about these negotiations. Al-Jubeir's visit to Cuba shows how much Riyadh needs Havana to be part of its anti-extremist agenda. Riyadh seeks to integrate Cuba into its fold, particularly against Iran, in order to mitigate any support from Havana to Tehran as the confrontation between the United States and Iran intensifies. Saudi Arabia no longer stands idly by and observes how Iran conducts its foreign policy around the world. Riyadh took note of the evolution of Cuban-Iranian relations over time and gave Tehran a hub in the Caribbean. Even if this is all skepticism, it shows that Saudi Arabia is not waiting to act. Now there is the Nexus, which is the nickname given to the relations between Iran, Venezuela and Cuba, but somehow Russia always seems to find a way in all relations against the United States. United. Just like during the Soviet Union, Cuba asked Moscow for help in 2015. The Cuban economy is struggling and needs cheap oil from Russia. Cuban leader Raul Castro personally called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to regularly export oil to Russia. This request comes after the sudden drop in Venezuelan oil exports to Cuba. Venezuela, now facing a full-scale economic catastrophe, has been a key contributor to Cuba for years. In the heyday of Caracas-Havana relations (when Hugo Chavez was still in power), Venezuela sent 105,000 barrels of oil per day to its Cuban counterparts. After Chávez's death, this figure fell to 90,000 barrels per day and recently reached 40,000 barrels per day. Venezuela's oil exports.