Iran Taking Over Latin America

by Joseph Humire • December 16, 2015 at 5:00 am

"This is a matter of life or death. I need you to be an intermediary with Argentina to get help for my country's nuclear program. We need Argentina to share its nuclear technology with us. It will be impossible to advance with our program without Argentina's cooperation." – Iran's former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
According to Venezuelan informants, whitewashing Iran's accused from the AMIA attack was only a secondary objective in its outreach to Argentina. The primary objective was to gain access to Argentina's nuclear technology and materials -- a goal Iran has for more than three decades.
During the last 32 years, Iran has achieved a resounding success in promoting an anti-US and anti-Israel message in Latin America. Its state-owned television network, HispanTV, broadcasts in Spanish 24 hours a day, seven days a week in at least 16 countries throughout the region.
The lifting of sanctions and influx of billions of dollars as a result of Iran's nuclear deal will undoubtedly help Iran in Latin America, where many countries face economic turmoil and can use an Iranian "stimulus."
While Latin America is often regarded as a foreign policy backwater for the United States, it is the geopolitical prize for the Islamic Republic of Iran.

"I need you to be an intermediary with Argentina to get help for my country's nuclear program. We need Argentina to share its nuclear technology with us. It will be impossible to advance with our program without Argentina's cooperation." – Iran's former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (far left) to the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez (hugging Ahmadinejad). Shown at right is Chávez with Argentina's former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

During the last couple months, Iran and Saudi Arabia have been playing a political tug of war over Latin America. On November 10, 2015, Iran's deputy foreign minister held a private meeting with ambassadors from nine Latin American countries to reaffirm the Islamic Republic's desire to "enhance and deepen ties" with the region. This was followed by similar statements from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in Tehran later that month.

The same day, the Saudi Foreign Minister, Adel al-Jubeir, presided over a South American-Arab world summit in Riyadh. FM al-Jubeir, while Ambassador to the United States in 2011, had himself been the target of an Iranian-Latin American assassination plot.

The message of the Saudi summit was clear: An Arab rapprochement with South American countries will increase Iran's isolation in the world.