Why Iran’s Growing Influence in Venezuela Challenges the West

VOA -March 11th 2023

Iran is striving to expand its influence in fellow U.S. adversary Venezuela, which is hosting an Iranian cultural fair this week and seeking Iranian assistance to revive the ailing Venezuelan energy industry.

The International Fair of Venezuelan-Iranian Culture and Friendship opened March 4 in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, and runs through Sunday. It is organized by a Caracas-based group called the Center for Intercultural Exchange in Latin America, or CICL.

The U.S. research group Foundation for Defense of Democracies said in a report last December that CICL is a Latin American branch of Iran’s al-Mustafa International University, which the report describes as Tehran’s principal institution for recruiting, indoctrinating and training foreign converts to Shi’ite Islam.

Videos posted Friday on CICL’s Instagram page showed Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Mahdi Esmaili visiting the fair.

Iran is striving to expand its influence in fellow U.S. adversary Venezuela, which is hosting an Iranian cultural fair this week and seeking Iranian assistance to revive the ailing Venezuelan energy industry.

The International Fair of Venezuelan-Iranian Culture and Friendship opened March 4 in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, and runs through Sunday. It is organized by a Caracas-based group called the Center for Intercultural Exchange in Latin America, or CICL.

The U.S. research group Foundation for Defense of Democracies said in a report last December that CICL is a Latin American branch of Iran’s al-Mustafa International University, which the report describes as Tehran’s principal institution for recruiting, indoctrinating and training foreign converts to Shi’ite Islam.

Videos posted Friday on CICL’s Instagram page showed Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Mahdi Esmaili visiting the fair.

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