Iran is lending its support to Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro as the Trump administration intensifies military operations in the Caribbean and increases efforts to dismantle criminal networks connected to the Caracas regime.

This week, Iran openly criticized U.S. actions, aligning itself with Maduro. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei warned of “dangerous repercussions” stemming from U.S. military activities in the region, claiming these actions threaten “international peace and security,” as reported by Iran’s state news agency, IRNA.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Iván Gil Pinto quickly expressed gratitude for Iran’s support. The Tehran Times reported his appreciation for Iran’s “solidarity with the Venezuelan people.”

In a press conference at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro displayed a document submitted to the International Criminal Court concerning U.S. sanctions. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Isaias Medina III, a former Venezuelan diplomat who resigned from the U.N. Security Council in 2017 over Maduro’s human rights abuses, shared his insights with Fox News Digital. He stated, “Iran’s alliance with the Venezuelan narco-dictatorship is far from a principled stand for ‘sovereign rights’ under the U.N. Charter. It is a calculated strategy aimed at mutual benefits in criminal enterprise and asymmetric warfare, posing a direct and growing threat to U.S. national security.”

He further commented, “This is a partnership driven by power, not principles. Iran’s involvement focuses on strengthening military, criminal, and intelligence collaboration, blatantly defying international norms.”

When asked on Monday whether he had ruled out anything, including U.S. troops on the ground, President Donald Trump told reporters, “No, I don’t rule out that, I don’t rule out anything. We just have to take care of Venezuela. They dumped hundreds of thousands of people into our country from prisons.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is pictured sitting next to a senior military official in Iran. (Getty Images)

Danny Citrinowicz, a senior fellow at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, told Fox News Digital that Iran’s public defense of Venezuela reflects deep strategic anxiety inside Tehran.

“Iran is extremely, extremely worried that it’s going to lose its main hub in Latin America,” he said. “Losing Maduro will be a strategic loss for Iran, because Venezuela is a strategic hub, not only for the activity in Venezuela itself, but also activity in Latin America in general.”

Citrinowicz pointed to the recently exposed assassination attempt on Israel’s ambassador in Mexico, which Mexican authorities linked to operatives with ties to Iran’s Quds Force. According to Citrinowicz, the operation illustrates how Iran uses Venezuelan territory as a staging ground.

Former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi welcomes Venezuelan dictator, Nicolás Maduro at Sadabat Palace in Tehran, Iran on June 11, 2022. (Photo by Iranian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

He said the Iranians “used their presence in Venezuela, mainly the Quds Force presence, in order to gather the right people that actually tried to commit this attack.” 

“It’s one example of many, how Iranians are using their presence in Venezuela as some sort of way to jump into the Latin American continent as a whole.”

He added that Venezuela has long been Iran’s most important foothold in the region: “Losing Venezuela is not only losing the grip of Venezuela itself, but also the ability to use Venezuela in order to enhance their activity in Latin America in general, also including operational activity like we saw in Mexico.”

Citrinowicz said that Iran has already lost one longtime ally in the region after recent elections in Bolivia. Remaining partners include Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, but “strategically and historically, Venezuela was the most important one because it gave them enough room to operate.”

Venezuela’s Minister of Petroleum Pedro Tellechea and his Iranian counterpart Javad Owji sign agreements during a meeting of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and then Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at the Miraflores Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela, June 12, 2023. (Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters)

Asked whether Iran is aiding the Venezuelan military directly, he said: “They have advisors on the ground. They can help the Venezuelan army, and they can also send arms via Qeshm Fars Air flights flying from Tehran to Caracas. They did that in the past, and they can do that even today.”

On Tuesday, American Families Against Cartel Terrorism (AmFACT) President Adriana Jones welcomed the U.S. State Department’s designation of Venezuela-based Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Jones — whose sister Maria “Rhonita” LeBaron and four of her children were murdered in the 2019 Juárez cartel massacre — said the move demonstrates Washington’s resolve.

“The terrorist designation of the Cartel de los Soles is an important reminder that the Trump administration is willing to use Foreign Terrorist Organization designations to combat dangerous drug and human trafficking cartels,” she said.

She urged policymakers to extend the same designation to the Juárez Cartel and its armed wing, La Línea, arguing that every day without it “allows them space to operate with impunity and heightens the likelihood that more American families will endure the same grief and devastation we have.”

Since September, the U.S. has launched at least 21 fatal strikes on boats allegedly involved in narcotics trafficking off Central and South America, including one on Sunday, as part of what officials describe as a widening campaign to disrupt maritime routes tied to Venezuelan criminal networks.