{"id":220051,"date":"2026-01-04T14:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T14:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/220051\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T14:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T14:24:14","slug":"with-venezuela-raid-trump-fires-a-message-to-iran-and-hamas-will-they-listen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/220051\/","title":{"rendered":"With Venezuela raid, Trump fires a message to Iran and Hamas. Will they listen?"},"content":{"rendered":"

At US President Donald Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likely assumed that he was at the front of his host\u2019s mind, or at least the issues he had come to discuss were: Gaza, Iran, Lebanon and a pardon.<\/p>\n

By all accounts, the two leaders enjoyed a friendly and productive meeting, and also spent New Year\u2019s Eve together at the resort\u2019s black tie ball.<\/p>\n

The attention of the White House, though, was far from the Middle East. Instead, it was busy planning for an impending daring special forces raid to snatch Venezuela\u2019s President Nicolas Maduro from one of his homes and take him into custody to face narcotics and terrorism charges in the US.<\/p>\n

The stunning operation early Saturday marks the latest use of military force by the US president that shattered ostensible red lines and forced observers to scramble to find a new description of his foreign policy doctrine.<\/p>\n

As evidenced by his January 2020 assassination of Qassem Soleimani, who led Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, and the US strikes on nuclear sites at the tail end of Israel\u2019s 12-war against Iran in June, Trump is no isolationist. He is ready to use American military might in an aggressive but targeted fashion against adversaries, especially after repeated warnings.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tUS President Donald Trump (right) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a joint press conference at the Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, December 29, 2025. (Jim WATSON \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

While it took place far from the part of the world Netanyahu was most concerned with, Trump\u2019s strike on Caracas has reverberated far beyond Latin America.<\/p>\n

The Israeli premier had gone to Florida with matters largely unsettled in Gaza and Lebanon, where the Hamas and Hezbollah terror groups have refused to disarm and have shown signs of attempting to rebuild, and worried that Iran could be gearing up for a fresh conflict as well.<\/p>\n

On all three fronts, the outcome largely hinges on Trump and what guarantees he can provide Israel, as well as what threats he can issue against his and Netanyahu\u2019s adversaries. Thus Jerusalem has a clear interest in the effectiveness of the Venezuela raid and what effect it has on the potency of both.<\/p>\n

As a rule, a US president that is willing to back up threats with the judicious use of military force is a good thing for US allies in the region, including Israel. When Washington is seen as disinterested in the Middle East, or is run by a president who chooses endless diplomacy to avoid using force, America\u2019s enemies are emboldened.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu made his sentiments clear, congratulating Trump for his \u201cbold and historic leadership on behalf of freedom and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tA man pastes a sign reading \u201cReward US$50,000,000\u201d depicting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Miguel de Cervantes park, near the Venezuelan Embassy in Lima on January 3, 2026, after US forces captured him. (Connie FRANCE \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Iran, which expanded its influence over the Middle East as the US tried to disengage from the region in the wake of the long Iraq and Afghanistan occupations, has reason to be nervous after the raid.<\/p>\n

Standing next to Netanyahu last week in Florida, Trump said<\/a> unequivocally that he would back an Israeli strike on Iran if it resumes its missile and nuclear programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf [Iran] will continue with the missiles \u2014 yes. [And if they continue with] the [production of] nuclear [capabilities] \u2014 fast. One will be yes, absolutely. The other, we\u2019ll do it immediately,\u201d Trump said, indicating that the US could again join Israel in an attack on Iran.<\/p>\n

Days later, as widening economic protests swept across parts of the Islamic Republic, Trump issued a new threat.\u00a0 He warned Iran that if it \u201cviolently kills peaceful protesters,\u201d the United States \u201cwill come to their rescue.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tA video appears to show anti-regime protesters marching in Isfahan, Iran, January 1, 2026. (X screenshot: used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are locked and loaded and ready to go,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n

With the Venezuela raid, the Islamic Republic should reasonably conclude that Trump is willing to back up his threats with action, and has the ability to make it happen.<\/p>\n

While it isn\u2019t entirely clear what the path is to another US bombing operation, and or even an assassination or extraction, in Iran, it certainly seems shorter after Saturday\u2019s raid in Caracas.<\/p>\n

Iran has long allied with Venezuela, using Caracas to bypass sanctions, and selling oil for gold in order to fund its armed proxies. Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, also enjoys<\/a> deep support networks in Venezuela, raising money through its ties to narcotics traffickers.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tA handout picture provided by the office of Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him addressing a meeting with students in Tehran, Iran, on November 3, 2025. (KHAMENEI.IR \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

The fall of the Maduro regime, if Trump pursues such a goal, would rob the Iranian axis of its base in the Americas.<\/p>\n

None of that means that Iran is about to sue for peace with the US, however.<\/p>\n

Leaders in Tehran are likely to see the Maduro arrest as further proof that Trump is really interested in regime change, not just stopping the nuclear and ballistic missile program, noted Raz Zimmt, who heads the Iran and the Shiite Axis research program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsequently, there is little incentive to negotiate with the Trump administration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tIranian President Masoud Pezeshkian listens to explanations as he visits the country\u2019s nuclear achievements during his tour to the Atomic Energy Organization in Tehran, Iran, in a photo released on November 2, 2025. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP)<\/p>\n

\u201cI see no growing willingness to engage in negotiations \u2014 certainly not on [Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei\u2019s part,\u201d Zimmt said. \u201cIn any case, the current conditions \u2014 complete lack of trust and US demands perceived by Iran as total capitulation \u2014 do not allow for an agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

At most, it seems, the Venezuela operation could cool Iran\u2019s resolve to resume nuclear enrichment or break out toward a nuclear weapon, at least as long as Trump is in office.<\/p>\n

Over the longer term, however,\u00a0Iran might use the operation as further evidence that in order to survive it has to drastically enhance its deterrence against the US, even in the form of a quiet push toward a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n

Iran will be watching to see what happens next before it draws its final conclusions from Saturday\u2019s operation.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tLabor union activists burn an effigy of US President Donald Trump during a demonstration against the US\u2019s attack on Venezuela, in Karachi, Pakistan, on January 4, 2026. (Asif HASSAN \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue with Iran is less the question of what the president did, and the question is what the president does [next],\u201d noted Danielle Pletka, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington. \u201cIf he allows the vice president [of Venezuela] to remain in power, the Iranians will breathe a sigh of relief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if Trump decided to decapitate Iran\u2019s leadership, without follow-up action, the ayatollah regime, backed by the IRGC, would remain in power and perhaps even tighten its grip on the country.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s previous military engagements with Iran were brief and pointed, reflecting his aversion to becoming entangled in a protracted conflict abroad.<\/p>\n

That was also seen in Yemen, where the administration ended a sustained but largely ineffectual bombing campaign against the country\u2019s Iran-backed Houthi rebels after a few weeks, reaching a deal that protected America\u2019s interests in the Red Sea but left Israel to fend for itself against the group.<\/p>\n

Rubio\u2019s no Witkoff<\/p>\n

In Gaza, though, the Maduro raid \u201cmay cause Hamas to take Trump more seriously,\u201d noted Pletka.<\/p>\n

At Mar-a-Lago last week, Trump issued a threat to Hamas over its refusal to give up its weapons under the administration\u2019s 20-point plan that halted fighting there in October.<\/p>\n

The terror group, he said, \u201cwill be given a very short period of time to disarm,\u201d or \u201cthere will be hell to pay for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tHamas gunmen are present as Egyptian workers, accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, search for the remains of the last Israeli hostage, Sgt. Ran Gvili, in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on December 8, 2025. (Omar AL-QATTAA \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

At the same time, Trump\u2019s approach to Gaza differs from his stance on Venezuela. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has run point on American policy toward Caracas, advocating an aggressive posture with a steadily escalating use of US military force.<\/p>\n

Regarding Gaza, on the other hand, Trump has put special envoy Steve Witkoff in charge.<\/p>\n

Witkoff, a diplomatic novice, has shown a belief that problems can be solved by talking face-to-face, even to hardened terrorist leaders.<\/p>\n

In October, Witkoff described<\/a> sharing a moment of connection with Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya over their shared experience of losing a son.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t(L-R) US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and White House adviser Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law, attend a meeting with Ukrainian officials in Hallandale Beach, Florida, November 30, 2025. (AP Photo\/Terry Renna)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expressed our condolences to him for the loss of his son,\u201d said Witkoff. \u201cHe mentioned it. And I told him that I had lost a son, and that we were both members of a really bad club, parents who have buried children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Steve and him spoke about their sons,\u201d recalled top Trump Middle East adviser Jared Kushner to CBS News, \u201cit turned from a negotiation with a terrorist group to seeing two human beings kind of showing a vulnerability with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Witkoff\u2019s late son Andrew died at the age of 22 of an opioid overdose. Al-Hayya\u2019s son Himam al-Hayya was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Hamas headquarters in Doha that drew Trump\u2019s ire.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s impossible to imagine Rubio having a heart-to-heart with enemy leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are very different people with very different ideas,\u201d said Pletka of Rubio and Witkoff.<\/p>\n

Interventionists on the rise<\/p>\n

The Maduro raid may also signal the growing ascendancy of the Rubio-led interventionist wing of the administration, as opposed to the isolationist flank led by Vice President JD Vance.<\/p>\n

Rubio is a staunch friend of Israel, while Vance, a close friend of conservative Israel-critic Tucker Carlson, seems to have far less invested in the US-Israel relationship.<\/p>\n

There is another benefit for Israel of having Rubio leading the way on Venezuela. He is and is seen as a leading candidate to replace Trump in 2028.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tRepublican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, center, and Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, second from the right, attend the first day of the Republican National Convention, Monday, July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. Joining them are from l-r., Tucker Carlson, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., and House Speaker Mike Johnson of La. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/p>\n

While Vance has been out of the spotlight in recent weeks \u2014 he wasn\u2019t at Mar-a-Lago at all during the Netanyahu visit \u2014 Rubio has taken center stage. With Saturday\u2019s stunning action, he has shown Trump that his way, and not Vance\u2019s instinctive isolationism, enhances the president\u2019s credibility and leads to wins for US policy.<\/p>\n

The isolationists may not only be losing in the White House, but on the street level as well.<\/p>\n

According to a Ronald Reagan I<\/a>nstitute poll<\/a> conducted in late October and early November, 87 percent of self-identified MAGA Republicans said they backed Trump\u2019s strikes on Iran, and 73% said they would back the use of US military force to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

And 90% said they supported US strikes against drug traffickers in the Caribbean, including from Venezuela.<\/p>\n

With Trump convinced that bold, targeted strikes are a moral and necessary tool in order to force adversaries to accede to US demands, he is more likely to sympathize with Israel doing the same in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At US President Donald Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likely assumed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-220051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}