As protests grow and intensify across Iran, parallels are being drawn between Iran and Venezuela, a nation grappling with a major political shift after a US military operation seized President Nicolás Maduro and his wife last weekend.
Although separated by more than 7,000 miles, and their political ideologies, the countries both have vast petroleum reserves, mineral wealth and an aversion to US pressure. Both have endured sanctions and repeated threats from the Trump administration.
There is little evidence to suggest those US threats will end any time soon. Instead, Washington has offered its support to Iranian protesters. Speaking to reporters from Air Force One on Monday, Trump warned the Iranian leadership that if people were killed, it would be “hit very hard by the United States.”
Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the Chatham House think tank in London, told CNN that Iran will be watching developments in Venezuela closely.
“The case of Venezuela is going to be very important for the Islamic Republic and the world to watch how removing the leader at the top might not necessarily reorientate too much of the policies within the system,” Vakil said.