Iran Is Airlifting Supplies to Venezuela. The Trump Administration Should Move to Block It.

The Islamic Republic can leverage the Maduro regime's ability to access sanctioned goods as payment for its services.

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Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, Iran has launched an airlift to salvage Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro regime from collapse. On April 22, after a 15-hour journey, a Mahan Air Airbus 340-642 landed at the Las Piedras Josefa Camejo International Airport. Mahan is sanctioned by the U.S. for its support of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp. Officially, Iranian commercial planes are carrying desperately needed help for Venezuela’s largest—and the world’s third largest—refinery complex, located in the Paraguana peninsula. Venezuela’s beleaguered economy is running desperately low on gasoline—the result of the Maduro regime’s systematic plundering of the country’s oil economy. Iran has the know-how and the technology to help Venezuela—an ideological ally in its global struggle against the United States.

Yet the benefits for Tehran of having a regular direct flight with South America suggest this is also a pretext to establish a permanent new route, which Mahan Air already announced last year. Before April 22, 2020, Mahan had flown only once to Caracas, in 2019, purportedly to discuss the route. Since last week, there have been daily flights. Disrupting this airlift, and potentially a regular direct service, should be a key priority for the Trump administration. 

First, what Iranian planes carry back to Tehran should concern the White House. The Venezuelan regime has all the accoutrements of a sovereign national government. In fact, it is a narco-terrorist state using the trappings of state institutions to plunder natural resources and enrich its self-proclaimed anti-imperialist stalwarts while starving the population of a once wealthy country. 

The regime has depleted the country’s oil sector and embezzled its wealth while letting its infrastructure rot. It has precipitated an environmental catastrophe in the Orinoco Delta by allowing—and profiteering from—rampant illicit gold mining. It has turned its socialist government-controlled food and medicine programs into instruments of extortion and racketeering. It has turned the country and its ports into a thriving infrastructure for Latin American drug cartels. Collusion with the cartels includes Maduro and his newly minted minister of petroleum, Tareck El Aissami, the regime’s liaison with Iran and Hezbollah. 

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  1. Tessier Ashpool

    Venezuela's economy is where it is because of 20 years of mismanagement, corruption, and a culture of graft. The government has stolen assets owned by foreign companies who invested their capital in Venezuela and built sustainable businesses that employed many Venezuelans. Nearly all of these businesses and assets were stolen by the government, gutted for their cash that was redirected for "social programs," and promptly run into the ground by incompetent generals and government sycophants. It's fine to critique US foreign policy and/or neoconism, but don't be naive about the role Chavez, Maduro and their cronies have played and continue to play in the wholesale economic destruction of the country. In the process they have ripped off many foreign businesses to the tune of billions of dollars. All in the name of Bolivarian Socialism.

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      Paul Reichardt

      Absolutely. And those aren’t even among what I consider the worst crimes of the Maduro government.
      https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/04/world/americas/venezuela-police-abuses.html

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    Logical

    I'm posting this as a separate thread in response to Mr. Hayes' consternation about the changing colors of neoconism.

    In a nutshell, the classical neocon spends about 7T$ to change the name from french fries to freedom fries. It has one or more of the following traits:
    - American hegemony is noble and purposeful; anyone else's is mostly terrorism
    - Iran is irrational; it's regional hegemony is retail (i.e. suicide vest) terrorism
    - Saudi and Pakistan (the real retail terrorists) are our guys, to keep Iran in check
    - Timid to hold SA accountable for anything
    - Israel, esp. Netanyahu, can do nothing wrong.
    - Palestinians are essentially terrorists; confiscation of their lands is for self defence

    The classical neoconism thrives on a solid support from American evangelicals (who are motivated to protect the holy land for rapture.)

    Now, the Middle East well is running dry for several reasons; Cost, monotony, push back, undisciplined POTUS.

    Neoconism is evolving though. The new target, with the same honed in techniques, is China which is a fertile ground and juicy for about two or more decades. The support will come from American populists on both sides of the isle. There is only one problem here though. China is not going to be a pushover. The fight took a brand new turn with the covid.


    -

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    Pat Riot

    When it comes to oil, everybody should be watching Russia and Putin. The collapse in prices may well back him into a corner and they don't exactly get to go work on their Presidential Library after they leave office in Russia (although Gorbachev is still breathing so go figure).

    And insofar as we're watching Russia and Putin, watch Trump. Putin has a narrow menu of options with Trump, but the Syria pullout shows that he's not above taking some bad press to keep Putin happy.

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    Paul Reichardt

    Yes, two sovereign nations with severely depressed economies who have largely been cut-off from global financial institutions and are in the middle of a global pandemic are trading with each other. The horror.

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      Logical

      Just the kind of article one would expect from AEI, an organisation comprising exclusively of foreign policy failures of the last 30 years

      To my surprise it is not from AEI. Then I went digging. This fellow represents 10x the success of AEI.

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        Paul Reichardt

        What did you expect? It's from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies--a neocon think-tank whose members are probably golfing buddies with some of The Dispatch staff from the Weekly Standard days and have agreed to give them exposure. I always read them as if I were getting a live-feed from Mike Pompeo's head.

        {shrug} I like DF, JG, and The Dispatch on civil liberties issues and am willing to take the good with the bad. As an outsider here, who am I to complain?

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          Steve Hayes

          We're happy to have you - and happy to have intelligent disagreement. Of course, if you've got a critique, it'll be more effective if you challenge the substance of the reporting or the premise of the argument than if you imagine golf outings among people you caricature.

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            Paul Reichardt

            Mr. Hayes, I agree and I apologize. I think Logical and I were sharing a moment of snarky indulgence. Let’s keep the place respectable and respectful. I come here explicitly for thoughtful arguments, points of view, and commentary that usually differ from my own opinions. I would hate to be one to pollute it.

            I will say, constructively, that many of the pieces from writers associated with FDD have a style that is a bit incongruous with the vast majority of TD pieces in that they seem targeted to, shall we say, a narrower and far less skeptical audience than perhaps The Dispatch is now attracting. That’s usually what ruffles my feathers--not so much the different viewpoint (which is what I expect).

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            Logical

            Dear Mr. Hayes,
            I believe the golf thing was in jest. But PR's original comment was right on.

            I'm glad you noticed the comment section. I have a request for you. I consider that most neocon think tanks have done a disservice to the country and led
            the path to a vacuous, boisterous demagogue. It is your prerogative of course, but have you considered balancing the foreign policy opinions on TD with those which take into account nuances of the rest of the world?

            I consider the reader engagement on TD is classy, and has improved my own tone.

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    Johntadian

    Wait a minute. Who's doing the editing this weekend? How did "The Trump administration has already shown a willingness to reverse its predecessor’s inaction against Mahan Air." into this article? Shouldn't a "Mistaken", "accidental" or "Inadvertant" been slid in before willingness? Where will this end?

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