Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, during a recent historic tour of Latin America, first visited Venezuela and its president, Nicolás Maduro. Raisi discussed the US and made clear that the reason behind strengthening ties between Iran and Latin American countries would be to counter the United States, it allies, and to scuttle US national interests. He pointed out that the link between Iran and Venezuela "is not normal but rather a strategic relationship," and that they share "common interests" and "common enemies."

Latin American countries are opportune places for Iranian covert intelligence operations, especially those targeting the United States. A CNN report from 2017 stated:

"One confidential intelligence document obtained by CNN links Venezuela's new Vice President Tareck El Aissami to 173 Venezuelan passports and ID's that were issued to individuals from the Middle East, including people connected to the terrorist group Hezbollah."

The Venezuelan passports could be used for travel to North America and Europe.

"We're concerned," said Nathan Sales, former coordinator for counterterrorism at the US State Department, "that Maduro has extended safe harbor to a number of terrorist groups... [including] supporters and sympathizers of Hezbollah."

Iran began significantly increasing its influence in Latin America after US President Joe Biden assumed office, most likely assuming, apparently correctly, that the Biden Administration would not take any action against the regime. As Raisi acknowledged during his trip:

"In the years after the Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Republic of Iran had good relations with all the countries of the Latin American region, but these relations have not been active for some reason for the past decade. It was necessary to review the relations with Latin American countries as an important and strategic center in the world and remove the obstacles to the activation of relations."