Pars Today

The US seems to have reached the end of its wits, as is clear by the futile bid of its gangster-like Secretary of State to heap the most preposterous lies upon Iran in a crisis in Latin America which is of Washington’s own making.

Now we have a report in this regard by Chile-based journalist Whitney Webb, titled: “Pompeo’s vain attempts to link Iran, Hezbollah to crisis in Venezuela”.

During a recent interview with FOX Business host Trish Regan, Mike Pompeo made several statements that raised eyebrows, such as claiming that Cuba had invaded Venezuela and “taken control” of Venezuela’s “security apparatus” and that US sanctions illegally imposed on Venezuela “aren’t aimed at the Venezuelan people.”

However, the most surprising claim Pompeo made in the interview was that the Islamic Republic of Iran and Lebanon’s legendary anti-terrorist movement, Hezbollah, were “active” in Venezuela, presenting what he called a national security “risk for America.”

After accusing China, Cuba and Russia of interfering with US efforts to install its puppet Juan Guaidó and oust elected Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Pompeo made the following assertion: “People don’t recognize that Hezbollah has active cells — the Iranians are impacting the people of Venezuela and throughout South America. We have an obligation to take down that risk for America and part of what we will talk about next week in Warsaw is certainly how we do that in South America and all across the globe.”

He, however, couldn’t justify how help from independent countries, if any, for sovereign UN member, Venezuela, could pose a risk to the ill-defined US interests in Latin America.

Pompeo’s mention of Hezbollah — a political party that has wide support in Lebanon’s democracy — has been noted by many outlets for seemingly providing a justification for the US to intervene in Venezuela, potentially with military force, by attempting to link the Venezuelan government to the enemies Washington has created in West Asia.

What has been entirely overlooked, however, is the fact that Pompeo also signaled a promise of military intervention “all across the globe.”

Indeed, if the US intervenes in Venezuela with Hezbollah as the pretext, it sets a precedent for going to war where Hezbollah is actually located — Lebanon — as well as against Hezbollah’s most powerful regional ally and favorite Trump-era boogeyman, Iran.

Pompeo’s suggestion that Hezbollah is “active” in Venezuela has slowly become a Trump administration talking point over the course of the past two years, largely due to the influence of Pompeo — who publicly made the claim in August 2017 — himself and National Security Adviser John Bolton.

Bolton helped to bolster the claim that Venezuela’s government is connected to Hezbollah, through his connections to the Gatestone Institute, which Bolton chaired from 2013 to 2018 and used to heavily promote the alleged Hezbollah-Venezuela link over that time frame. Bolton, as recently as last January, argued that “Hezbollah, exploiting the long history of expatriate Arab trading networks in Latin America, remains a murky but continuing threat” in Venezuela, providing no evidence to back up his claim beyond suggesting that West Asian immigrants to Venezuela are indicative of a Hezbollah presence.

Claims of Hezbollah’s links to Venezuela largely revolve around one man, former Venezuelan Vice President Tarek al-Aissami, who is of Lebanon-Syrian ancestry. The claims have been promoted as fact – despite an absence of concrete evidence – by a mix of neoconservative think tanks, such as the Center for a Secure Free Society, and former Bush officials, such as Roger Noriega, along with the Bolton and AIPAC-linked Gatestone Institute.

Similarly, many of these same groups, particularly John Bolton, have been instrumental in asserting that Iran – a strategic ally of Venezuela – is not in Venezuela for any “normal” alliance but in order to provide cover for alleged illicit activities, including nuclear power. Bolton has accused Venezuela of harboring and collaborating with what he called Iranian “smugglers” and, during a 2013 hearing, Bolton claimed that Iran was operating in Venezuela.

Bolton has also claimed that Iran uses Venezuela “to retain access to the country’s extensive uranium reserves,” suggesting that Venezuela is connected to Iran’s nuclear program. However, independent scientists have long countered that Venezuelan uranium deposits are minimal and likely impractical to extract.

Yet, that didn’t stop the usual pro-intervention think tanks — such as the Center for a Secure Free Society and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, whose board of trustees includes Henry Kissinger, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods and notorious neoconservative Richard Armitage — from promoting the claim.

Notably, no concrete evidence of either an illicit Hezbollah-Venezuela or an Iran-Venezuela connection has ever emerged beyond innuendo made by individuals and organizations with a vested interest in demonizing anti-imperialist governments in Latin America and beyond.

While the lack of evidence should be enough to write off this claim, it is still regurgitated by Trump officials and pro-interventionists because it offers a so-called “terror threat” justification for US meddling and potentially US military intervention in Venezuela, as the US is sensitive to Hezbollah.

Indeed, the potential for US military intervention in Venezuela in order to “support” the US-backed Juan Guaidó has been repeatedly mentioned by top Trump officials, including Trump himself in recent days. With Hezbollah and Iran thrown into the mix, the Trump administration is seeking to link his irrational West Asian policy with its warmongering Venezuela policy in order to look for an excuse to intervene in Venezuela.

However, given the attempt to establish this link between Venezuela and Hezbollah/Iran, it must be understood that this is a connection that the Trump administration will seek to use in both directions.

In Lebanon’s case, US threats towards Lebanon have failed to derail Hezbollah’s popularity in the country, as evidenced by Lebanon’s most recent elections. However, Israel — whose influence over the Trump administration’s foreign policy has been the subject of numerous MintPress reports — has been actively preparing for war with Lebanon for over a year, with Hezbollah and Hezbollah-supporting civilians as the targets.

As MintPress previously reported, these war preparations have the full support of the United States and top US military commanders have openly stated that — when the war starts — US troops are “prepared to die” for Israel and Israel’s military will have final say over whether or not Americans are deployed to fight and die in this war.

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