Caracas is now rebelling against Tehran

“This isn’t Venezuela, where all it takes is for one person to be targeted for everyone else to get scared and back down.” Although not explicitly stated, it was probably this remark by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi that provoked the wrath of the Caracas government, which on Tuesday summoned the Iranian ambassador to Venezuela, Ali Chegini, to hand him a note of protest over “derogatory and inappropriate comments” directed at Venezuelan institutions and authorities. The statement, published on the official Telegram channel, does not specify which remarks triggered the protest. However, the Foreign Ministry calls for “an end to any insinuation or comparison that undermines the dignity, sovereignty, institutions and good name of Venezuela”, emphasising that the Caracas government bases its international relations on mutual respect, sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs and the principles of law.

Venezuela and Iran maintain close bilateral relations, with nearly 300 agreements in strategic sectors such as science and technology, the oil and petrochemical industries, and trade. This is the result of a strategic decision by Hugo Chávez, based on their shared opposition to the United States. In 2020, Iran supplied 1.5 million barrels of petrol at a time when Venezuela had been unable to refine its own crude oil. In 2025, the Iranian regime sent over two million doses of polio and hepatitis vaccines at a time when Venezuela was struggling to source medicines. However, following the turning point after Maduro’s capture, when Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil issued a tentative condemnation of the US attack on Iran, he received an ultimatum forcing him to retract the statement a few hours later – in what the New York Times described as “an admission that Venezuela no longer sets its own foreign policy”. If this were the case, there would be one positive aspect: with Maduro removed, Caracas is no longer a safe haven for the regime in Tehran.