Following the release of leaked classified Pentagon documents last week, new revelations over the weekend found that the Islamic Republic and Nicaragua discussed ways to counter the United States in Latin America last February.
During a diplomatic visit to Managua, the Islamic Republic's Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, met with senior Nicaraguan Army commanders on ways that both countries could boost military cooperation to counter American influence in the continent.
According to the intelligence reports and intercepts gathered by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Nicaraguan commanders told Minister Amir-Abdollahian that Nicaragua opposes American efforts to "expand influence in Latin America and expressed a willingness to engage with Tehran and other like-minded countries."
During the visit, both nations echoed that they focused on economic, trade, and energy cooperation, making no statement on future military collaboration against the US.
The Islamic Republic's state news agency, IRNA, noted that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega met with Iran's top diplomat in February that both Managua and Tehran had a "common enemy," referring to the Islamic Republic’s Revolution in 1979, which overthrew the Shah of Iran, and the Communist Sandinista revolution, which toppled the American-backed Somoza Presidency.
Minister Abdollahian stated that Nicaragua represented "independence and freedom-seeking in the minds of the Iranians because Nicaragua has stood and is standing against imperialism."
Following their revolutions during the Cold War, both countries continue to face American sanctions and condemnations from American officials.
Iran’s foreign minister stressed that the Islamic government seeks political independence to support a multilateral international order without America's participation referring to U.S.-led sanctions on independent nations like Nicaragua as a "terrorist threat" that imperialist powers employ as leverage.
The intelligence reports also note that the Iranian Minister made similar statements in Cuba several days later, accusing the U.S. and other Western countries of "pursuing the hybrid policy of imposing sanctions and intervention in other countries' affairs through stoking and encouraging riots in independent countries of the world."
In the past several years, Iran has continued to spread its influence in Latin America, supporting regimes in Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Brazil, creating mosque networks and aiding in drug smuggling and arms transfers through their terror proxy, Hezbollah, in Latin America.
In 2019, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Chief Qassem Soleimani visited Venezuela to help create the "Popular Defense Units," a revolutionary militia meant to maintain order in the face of American-backed coup attempts against the Maduro regime.
Under Brazilian President Lula da Silva, Islamic Republic warships docked in Rio de Janeiro before heading for the Panama Canal despite U.S. condemnations.
Brazil and Iran are currently preparing to launch a direct shipping route, allowing both countries to engage in economic cooperation and provide a new source of revenue for the ayatollahs in Tehran as they continue to crack down on protesters and support terrorist proxies throughout the Middle East and the world.
Despite issuing condemnations against Latin American leftist presidents for supporting Iran, the Biden administration has been slow to issue sanctions against the Islamic Republic and its allies in Latin America, hoping to secure a nuclear agreement with Tehran.
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