Iran's role in Venezuela: between sanctions and isolation

In 2002 the then US President George Bush coined the term "Axis of Evil" to refer to Iran, Iraq and North Korea. Since then many years have passed and several countries have been moving in and out of this informal list. But there is no doubt that if George Bush or any other US president were to draw up a similar list today, he would include Iran and Venezuela, two states that have strongly opposed Washington's influence in recent years. These two countries have been characterised by anti-imperialist rhetoric, which portrays the United States as the main problem for their independence and the focus of their government propaganda. 

But propaganda is not the only point of contact between the two states, as economic and political relations have been growing closer for years. The sanctions imposed by the United States have posed a serious problem for Teheran and Caracas, as they reduce the number of countries and companies with which they can establish relations, causing a major economic impact that has been particularly harsh in Venezuela. This has led the Iranian government to provide aid to Venezuela in recent months by sending a ship with food and the arrival of technical assistance to repair one of the Venezuelan refineries that had broken down. 
 

Iran is beginning to increase its interest in Latin America at the beginning of the new millennium, following the electoral victories of a number of left-wing politicians in the region, the most significant being the electoral victory of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. Chávez began to build a strategic alliance among the most left-wing governments in Latin America, which promoted an economic and political vision far removed from the United States. Cuba and Venezuela began to promote the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, an organisation that ended up encompassing other important Latin American countries such as Nicaragua, Ecuador or Bolivia (the latter two are now outside the organisation). 

It was at this time that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began to give special prominence to the region, increasing his official trips to the area in order to break the country's international isolation. For Iran, Latin America is by no means a primary objective of its foreign policy, but it has enabled it to draw closer to a number of states with which it shares an anti-imperialist vision that places the United States at the centre of its international discourse. 

Despite the greater political harmony between Venezuela and Iran, other countries have greater trade relations with Tehran. Although the rhetoric of right-wing extremist Jair Bolsonaro launches tirades against the country, Brazil is Iran's main trading partner in the region, with a volume of trade that far exceeds that with Caracas. Other countries such as Argentina and Uruguay, which are also not in the Iranian ideological orbit, also maintain a high level of trade owing to the complementary nature of economic exchanges, which are centred on the export of food products such as maize, meat and soya. Indeed, even Iranian trade with Colombia surpasses its relations with Venezuela. 

The shortage of economic trade stems from both countries' specialisation in their exports. Both Iran and Venezuela have extensive hydrocarbon reserves, which are both states' main source of wealth. Nor is trade with Nicaragua or Cuba particularly relevant, although they are countries much closer to Iran's anti-imperialist discourse. The announcements of major Iranian investments in the region have come to nothing and the volume of economic relations is low, which shows that Iranian interest in the region is focused on securing support in an area that is the United States' backyard.  
 

Francisco Rodríguez and Esfandyar Batmanghelidj published a very interesting article in Foreign Policy magazine entitled "Sanctions are driving Iran and Venezuela into each other's arms". Tehran has suffered an intensification of the sanctions it has been enduring for over a decade owing to its nuclear programme. Donald Trump's presidency has led to the United States' withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear pact with Iran, a pact which sought to put an end to the Iranian attempt to acquire a nuclear arsenal in exchange for allowing the country to open up its economy further. The breach of the agreement led to the introduction of new sanctions, which Teheran responded by failing to fulfil its commitments. 

Venezuela has suffered the same fate as Iran, as it has endured harsh sanctions in recent years owing to the authoritarian drift of Nicolas Maduro's government. The sanctions imposed on both countries dissuade third states from trading with them for fear of economic reprisals from Washington. Both economies have been hit hard on their oil exports, leading to a huge economic and inflationary crisis in Venezuela, while Iran faces a two-thirds loss of value of the Iranian rial and large fiscal deficits. The problem is that these sanctions may be much less effective than they may appear at first sight. 

Iran responded to the sanctions imposed in the early 2000s with a rhetoric of resistance and less foreign dependence, but the reality is that the country has a significant presence in world trade. It has progressively managed to reduce its dependence on oil exports by increasing its sales of manufactured goods, which provide jobs for nearly one-third of the working population. Furthermore, the increasing devaluation of the currency has increased the competitiveness of its exports, allowing them to expand to new markets. Its production is mainly aimed at China, but other countries such as Turkey, Iraq or the United Arab Emirates are important markets for its products.

Iran's experience of diversifying markets and increasing manufacturing may point the way for Venezuela after years of economic crisis and hyperinflation, which has led to the exodus of millions of Venezuelans who have fled the country owing to the impoverished economic conditions.  Relations between Iran and Venezuela, which have been growing closer for over a decade, will most likely continue over the next few years, as Caracas has fewer and fewer allies and partners in the international sphere. 

The arrival of Joe Biden as president of the United States may alter America's policy of sanctions. These entail a high economic cost for the country, but are paid mainly by the civilian population, who should not be blamed for the actions of their governments. It is necessary to create new policies towards these states that make it possible to combine, on the one hand, an improvement in the living conditions of their citizens and, on the other, the defence of human rights and democracy in Iran and Venezuela.