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Belgiums parliament on Tuesday will debate whether to ratify a proposed treaty with Iran that could allow an Iranian convicted of terrorism in Belgium to be sent back to Tehran.

Iran has loudly demanded that Belgium release Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat who was convicted on terrorism charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in a bomb plot targeting a rally by opponents of the Iranian regime in France.

The Belgian government has refused to explain the immediate need for the treaty, although Belgian media reported Monday night that Iran has been holding a Belgian national in jail since February, potentially as leverage.

The treaty could also pave the way for a future political deal on Ahmadreza Djalali, who was sentenced to death by an Iranian court in 2017 on charges of spying for Israel. Djalali, a former researcher at the medical university Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and a guest lecturer at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), denies the charges. Belgium and Sweden have lobbied for his release for years. However, he would not immediately be covered by the treaty, as he doesnt have Belgian nationality.

Several Western citizens are detained in Iran on spurious charges. These cases have long represented one of the most difficult challenges in the problematic relationship between European nations and Iran. Earlier this year, for example, the U.K. settled a debt to Iran dating back to the 1970s effectively paying a400 million ransom to free two British-Iranian nationals.

The move by Belgium, however, which envisions the release of a terrorist convicted in the Belgian courts of attempting mass murder on European soil, is proving far more controversial drawing outrage from European critics of Iran, as well as members of the Iranian opposition living in exile.

While the treaty has been in development for many months, the action in the Belgium parliament comes as European leaders are panicking over energy prices and are increasingly eager to repair relations with Iran in the hope that the Islamic Republic can resume its role as a major supplier of oil and gas.

Doing so would require resolving continuing disagreements with the United States over the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which will not be easy. But with EU countries intent on cutting off Russian energy supplies, Iran is seen as one of the few alternative sources.

The new treaty between Belgium and Iran was signed in March and is now being pushed through parliament at speed, with legislative leaders aiming to have it ratified before the parliamentary summer break. The treaty would permit Iranians convicted in Belgium to serve their sentences in Iran, with the same happening for Belgians convicted in Iran. But the treaty also allows each party to grant amnesty and there is little doubt that Assadi, who worked as an Iranian diplomat, would quickly be set free.

Critics of the new treaty say that it will undermine the Belgian law enforcement and justice systems, literally creating a get-out-of-jail-free card for terrorists.

This is an erosion of the legal system, said Michael Freilich, a Belgian MP for the Flemish nationalists N-VA, who are in opposition in the Belgian parliament. Iran has made clear publicly that they dont see Assadi as a terrorist, but as a diplomat. He will be freed as soon as he steps foot on Iranian soil.

Our country is signing a treaty with a terrorist state purely for the purpose of extraditing terrorists to Iran, said Rik Vanreusel, a lawyer representing the Iranian opposition. Iran has a clear policy of taking foreigners hostage as leverage. This new law institutionalizes this kind of behavior via a legal framework.

Amnesty International has also previously warned Iran was holding Djalali hostage to compel Belgium and Sweden to hand over former Iranian officials, including Assadi.

When asked for comment, the Belgian foreign affairs ministry referred questions to the office of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who is also serving temporarily as foreign affairs minister. De Croos office referred questions to Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne.

A spokesperson for Van Quickenborne insisted that the treaty was not tied to any specific case. There is no link with any individual file, the spokesperson said, adding that the vote in parliament was not just about the treaty with Iran, but also about treaties with India and the United Arab Emirates, which would help extradite criminals in the drug trade.

When asked about the treaty in the Belgian parliament last Thursday, Van Quickenborne also pointed out a need to protect Belgians who might be detained by foreign regimes. This is how we ensure that criminals cannot hide in other countries, because impunity is not an option. At the same time, however, we also want to protect our compatriots worldwide, hence the international agreement, Van Quickenborne said.

In recent days, there has been mounting global condemnation of the planned new treaty.

Nine former senior members of the U.S. law enforcement and national security community sent a letter to the Belgian parliament urging against ratification.

This pending treaty is totally disrespectful to the law enforcement officers who risked their lives to prevent the 2018 attack, the letter, seen by POLITICO, stated. It also frustrates the judicial systems ability to fulfill its mission to protect the citizens of Europe by denying it the ability to make perpetrators accountable.

The authors, who include former FBI Director Louis Freeh and an array of former U.S. military commanders, warned that the treaty would effectively establish Belgium as a sanctuary country for terrorist operations, and a safe haven for Iranian intelligence services to maintain a European central command center.

Three Republican U.S. congressmen Randy K. Weber and Louie Gohmert of Texas, and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania have also written a letter to De Croo urging him to oppose the treaty. In the letter, the three U.S. lawmakers praised Belgian authorities for preventing a heinous tragedy by foiling Assadis dastardly plot, which they noted was carried out under the ploy of diplomatic immunity.

Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman for the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran, an Iranian opposition group based in Paris, said there was no doubt about the purpose of the treaty.

This legislation sets the stage for the transfer of a convicted terrorist, Assadollah Assadi, the Iranian regimes diplomat to Iran, Gobadi said in a statement to POLITICO. This disgraceful deal compromises the safety and security of Europeans including the Belgian people and rolls the red carpet for the Iranian regime and its terror apparatus. The message to the Iranian regime would be very clear: you can perpetrate mass terrorism in Europe by using your diplomats and embassies and commit the worst crimes in Europe and get away with it. It is imperative for the Belgium Parliament to reject this agreement and prevent the sacred principles of Europe from being subjected to such dirty deals.

Some Belgian critics of the treaty said there had been a marked change of tone from the Belgian government in the last couple of months, as Van Quickenborne in February had said he wanted to avoid horse-trading on a prisoner swap. That raised the possibility that Belgium was coming under pressure from other European capitals, including Paris, which are eager to ease tensions with Tehran.

Several Belgian diplomats contacted by POLITICO said they were not authorized to speak about the case or that it was above their pay grade. However, diplomats stressed that freeing Djalali, or at least setting aside the death penalty for a more lenient sentence, has long been a priority for the Belgian government.

Freilich also pointed to Benjamin Brire, a French national who has been sentenced in Iran for espionage and propaganda, and suggested that he might be part of a prisoner exchange, with Djalali alone not being sufficient to get Belgium to release Assadi. But honestly, we dont know, Freilich said. Its very sneaky. If the Belgian government really feels that such a deal should be done, it should be transparent about it.

One Belgian politician said there has been large diplomatic pressure, in particular from France.

But some senior leaders strongly defended the efforts to re-engage with Iran and further isolate Russia in the context of its war with Ukraine. Speaking at a news conference at the G7 summit in Germany, European Council President Charles Michel, a former Belgian prime minister, said the EU had consistently supported the Iran nuclear deal, and should do everything possible to revive it.

Even if it is extremely difficult even we know whats the role played by Iran in the regional context, Michel said, we think that the EU has responsibility to engage with all the actors with all the partners there to see if agreements with Iran are possible.

The treaty will first be discussed on Tuesday by the foreign affairs committee. Once it gets the green light there, which could be within hours, it will go to the full parliament, possibly later this week.But given the increasing pressure and the growing media attention the treaty is getting in Belgium, some Belgian politicians said it isnt a done deal yet.

Continued here:
Belgium paves way to send convicted terrorist to Iran - POLITICO Europe

Iranian economist Mohsen Renani says another revolution is unlikely in Iran, however, there is a high potential for riots and unrest because of economic crisis.

Speaking in an interview with Didban Iran [Iran Monitor] news website, the Esfahan University professor said that if protests continue in Iran they will turn out to be more dangerous for the country than a nuclear bomb.

Irans runaway inflation, currently at an annual rate of 55 percent, has impoverished a vast majority of the population and is seen as the result of a nuclear program that has brought on international and US sanctions for the past 15 years, crippling the economy.

Meanwhile, Renani added that because of the ongoing dissent, officials are losing their self-confidence and keep making hasty decisions secretly to cope with a multitude of problems.

He said revolutions have been constantly taking place in Iran for 110 years now. "The constitutional revolution of 1905, the Qajar Dynastys fall in 1920, the Iranian oil nationalization movement of the early 1950s and the Green Movement of 2009 against Islamic Republic policies have all been revolutions."

However, he added that all of those revolutions were the consequences of Iranian elites and leaders' inability to maintain dialogue among themselves and with the people.

Mohsen Renani, professor of economics in University of Esfahan

Renani warned against the declining self-confidence of decisionmakers in Iran, adding that Iran is at a stage where too many crises happen at the same time. "In such a situation, the regime is entangled in a quagmire of instability, challenge, and wrong social and economic decisions. The only thing the government can do is fight fires: Putting out fires here and there while ending up in a strange confusion as a result of its inefficiency," the economist said.

He was most likely referring to hurried decisions made by President Ebrahim Raisis administration to cope with the country's biggest economic crisis in its modern history. Those decisions including a desperate attempt to eliminate food subsidies and increase prices of essential commodities.

When these decisions led to a major crisis in early May and culminated in protests, the government announced various new measures including rationing bread, issuing coupons and promising higher cash handouts, while so far it has not able to do any one of those things. In the meantime, price kept rising and dissatisfaction has led to a situation hard to control or continue.

Since 2017, Renani has been leading a series of academic dialogues to discuss solutions to Irans problems. He says the "Development Dialogues" is an academic attempt to look for the missing give-and-take between the elites and the government during the past 110 years.

"Throughout this time, intellectuals thought that Iran can reach development only through regime change," he said. He added that Iranian academics are collecting some 50 different narratives that could determine the route to development. However, he regretted that "We have not been able to turn this into a real dialogue among those who pursue Iran's development."

"Unfortunately, many join the discussions only to prove themselves. They are not there to listen to others in order to correct their narratives. Some even refused to join the conversation to avoid possible criticism," he said, most likely pointing at lack of interest on the part of the officials to listen to critics.

Renani added that some 95 percent of private sector institutions in Iran are formed and maintained by less than five individuals each. "That is because we cannot talk to each other," he stressed.

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Economist Says Revolution Is Unlikely In Iran, But Unrest Is Here To Stay -

A man cleans up rubble after an earthquake at Sayeh Khosh village in Hormozgan province in Iran, some 620 miles south of the capital Tehran on July 2, 2022. Abdolhossein Rezvani/AP hide caption

A man cleans up rubble after an earthquake at Sayeh Khosh village in Hormozgan province in Iran, some 620 miles south of the capital Tehran on July 2, 2022.

TEHRAN, Iran Five people were killed and 44 others injured in a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in southern Iran on Saturday, state television reported.

Rescue teams were deployed near the epicenter, Sayeh Khosh village, which is home to around 300 people in Hormozgan province, some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) south of the capital, Tehran, the report said.

People went into the streets as aftershocks continued to jolt the area after the early morning quake, which also damaged buildings and infrastructure.

The earthquake was felt in many neighboring countries, the report said.

The area has seen several moderate earthquakes in recent weeks. In November, one man died following two magnitude 6.4 and 6.3 earthquakes.

Iran lies on major seismic faults and experiences one earthquake a day on average. In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake flattened the historic city of Bam, killing 26,000 people. A magnitude 7 earthquake that struck western Iran in 2017 killed more than 600 people and injured more than 9,000.

Read this article:
A strong earthquake has killed at least 5 in southern Iran - NPR

By Baria Alamuddin*

It turns out Irans intelligence services arent so intelligent after all.After a series of mortifying failures, Hossein Taeb Irans untouchable spy chief, with close ties to the supreme leader has been summarily thrown overboard.

This was a man who enjoyed immense power and unimaginable resources, and was responsible for crushing domestic dissent and eliminating threats and irritants overseas.

Taeb climbed to the top of Irans greasy pole in 2009 through playing a prominent role in the mass killing and torture of protesters. In recent days the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps lauded such atrocities as great accomplishments.

Taeb was exposed as comically incompetent when Israeli agents assassinated at least seven nuclear scientists and intelligence officials in the past two months. Attackers struck deep inside some of Irans most secret locations; they came out of nowhere then simply melted away, giving rise to confused reports in the Iranian media about killer robots, suicide drones, masked assassins and self-firing machineguns. Some of these sabotage operations were overseen from neighboring Azerbaijan and Iraqi Kurdistan. Those coordinating the strikes succeeded in recruiting significant numbers of Iranians with the necessary skills and connections, probably including employees at these sites, and even carried out two attacks on the flagship Natanz nuclear plant.

The rot goes all the way to the top: Gen Ali Nasiri, a senior Guards commander, was arrested for spying for Israel, and several dozen employees from the Ministry of Defenses missile development program are thought to have been detained on suspicion of leaking classified military information, including missile blueprints, to Israel.

Ayoob Entezari, an aerospace engineer, was fatally poisoned at a dinner party. The events host hasnt been seen since. Entezaris martyrdom was first denounced as an act of biological terror, before the Iranian media suddenly changed its story denying foul play, or even that Entezari held a sensitive role, in a transparent attempt to hide how badly the intelligence agencies had bungled. Again!

Hardly a week goes by without reports of mysterious explosions, assassinations, and hacking of critical infrastructure. Last week three Iranian steel factories, major suppliers to the Guards, were hit by a cyberattack.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett gloated about his octopus doctrine instead of focusing on the tentacles, he goes straight for the head. Unfortunately, although these attacks are shattering the regimes morale, they are mere pinpricks. If Israel wants to halt Irans nuclear program and its transnational paramilitary armies, full-on decapitation is required.

In the meantime, this demented octopus has flailed about, wildly threatening revenge but rarely delivering. Remember all the promises to unleash divine vengeance for the 2020 killing of Qassim Soleimani and Abu-Mahdi Al-Muhandis? Or to avenge the assassination of nuclear chief Mohsen Fakhrizadeh?

Taeb sought retribution for the killing of Col. Sayad Khodaei, deputy commander of a covert Guards assassinations unit, by sending his goons to Turkey to kill Israeli diplomats and tourists. However, Israel tipped off Ankara and the conspiracy was thwarted. Similar operations appear to have been planned in Egypt. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu declared that Ankara would not tolerate terror attacks on its soil, an indication of how such botched operations are pulling Turkey closer into the coalescing alliance of anti-Iran states.

Entrenched Iranian positions and outlandish new demands are derailing the revival of the Iran nuclear deal. Neither side holds out much hope for success, but they fear the consequences of admitting that talks have failed.

Nevertheless, American officials asserted that Iran had been severely discountenanced by prospects of a regional defense pact. Israel has acquiesced to the supply of sophisticated air defense systems, radars, and cyber technology to new allies, the US is encouraging Egypt and Jordan to deepen security ties with Israel, and there is the game-changing prospect that Israel and Saudi Arabia could be part of such an alliance.

Such nervousness is certainly motivating Tehrans recent outreach to Riyadh. Saudi officials are right to not trust a word they hear, stressing that they need to see de-escalatory actions, not empty words. Perhaps the Iranian presidents recent voicing of support for a ceasefire in Yemen is a move in this direction.

Lack of progress is spurring Iran to apply pressure elsewhere, including efforts to take over the government in Iraq, and an incident in which Israel shot down three Hezbollah drones near an Israeli gas rig in an area of sea claimed by Lebanon.

The region is changing, alliances are changing These are serious threats that need to be thwarted, one senior Iranian official nervously told Reuters. However, another one commented: Our nuclear program is advancing every day. Time is on our side.

The Revolutionary Guards probably dont want a revived nuclear deal. The paradoxical impact of sanctions has been that most oil is smuggled out via their vast economic conglomerates, and as the price soars they are making a killing. Their revenues now mostly come from outside the official government budget, something that wouldnt be tenable if the deal were revived hence the deliberately obstructive demand that sanctions be lifted from the the Guards economic empire, Khatam Al-Anbiya.

Iran meanwhile is disintegrating from the inside. Last month there were major anti-government protests and strikes throughout the country. Pensioners have been demonstrating over the wiping out of their pensions by runaway inflation, the result of incompetent regime policies. The currency plunged 25 percent in four months.

The Islamic Republic is its own worst enemy. The most likely prospect for slaying this dragon is collapse from within: Iranians hate this regime and much of the country is a patchwork of oppressed minorities who sooner or later will unite to oust the detested ayatollahs.

Regional powers are right to put their energies into a defensive alliance to counter Iranian expansionism; the only regret is that this didnt happen 40 years ago.

However, the most fertile avenue for ending such maleficence is for a focused campaign within Iran itself, capitalizing on the ayatollahs incompetence, misgovernance and unpopularity.

The Islamic Republic is a time bomb waiting to implode through the accumulation of its own failures. Never has there been a better time for regional powers to light the fuse and put an end to this evil once and for all.

Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

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Humiliation Piled On Humiliation For Iran's Spy Agencies OpEd - Eurasia Review

In June, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrived in Iran for a two-day visit, marking the first time in five years the leader alighted in the equally isolated Islamic Republic.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who has crafted his foreign policy around anti-US motifs, is investing in elevating relations with Venezuela as Iran misses out on boosting relations with traditional Asian allies and lacks a roadmap for renewing ties with the West.

During the visit, Iran and Venezuela signed a 20-year cooperation agreement, the details of which have not been made public.

But for the two countries whose economies have been crushed under years of biting US sanctions, there is potent symbolism in giving new impetus to ties that were mostly stagnant under Raisis predecessor, Hassan Rouhani, whose primary policy priority was to normalize ties with the West.

On the second day of Maduros tour, Iran formally delivered an Aframax tanker known as Yoraco, a vessel designed to carry 800,000 barrels of oil to Venezuela.

The Yoraco was built by the SADRA shipyard as part of a 60 million euro deal, which the Islamic Republic says has been paid in full despite doubts that heavily-sanctioned Venezuela is liquid enough to do so.

In 2006, the two sides floated ambitious plans to boost bilateral trade to US$11 billion per year, notably at a time then-hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had cultivated genial relations with the late Venezuelan populist leader Hugo Chavez. Then, the alliance was seemingly the vanguard of a new transregional anti-US bulwark.

President Rouhanis overtures to the US and EU overshadowed ties with Venezuela. Despite grand plans, trade volumes are still negligible. In 2021, bilateral trade amounted to piddling $122 million, constituting a tiny fraction of the South American nations overseas commerce.

But latest indications are emerging that connections are picking up and the two international pariahs, in a joint bid to withstand and rebuff international sanctions, are exploring new realms of collaboration.

Iran-Venezuela relations have been widely described as rhetorical and ideological, but the two anti-US states are translating those commonalities into action to shield each other from the chronic isolation and economic hardship caused by the sanctions.

Amid acute fuel shortages and while Maduro was mired in a domestic fracas after the contested 2019 presidential election, Iran dispatched several shipments of gasoline to Venezuela.

In May 2020, a flotilla of five Iranian oil tankers carried 1.53 million barrels of gasoline from the port of Bandar Abbas to Venezuelas refineries. A sixth ship sailed through the Caribbean Sea and docked in La Guayra, offloading 345,000 barrels.

The second cargo, comprising four tankers carrying 1.12 million barrels of petroleum, was confiscated by the US Department of Justice in August 2020.

Venezuelas second-largest refinery, Cardon, took delivery of 200,000 barrels of Iranian heavy crude earlier in April, and another 400,000 barrels were discharged at Puerto Jos in May.

Venezuelas state oil and gas company PDVSA continues to receive supplies of condensate from its Iranian partners, and the El Palito refinery has resumed a crude distillation unit through elaborate repairs and upgrading completed using equipment acquired from Iran.

From 2001 to 2013, nearly 300 agreements were signed by the governments of Tehran and Caracas on a range of projects including affordable housing, cement plants, car factories, hospitals, department stores, dairy farms and seafood companies. Investment and loans made by Iranian entities in Venezuela are estimated to value between $15 and $20 billion.

As the embattled Raisi administration turns to Maduros Venezuela as an economic lifeline and a political ally, Caracas is embarking on a delicate rapprochement with the United States, which in light of Russias invasion of Ukraine and spiraling global oil prices, could restore Venezuela as a key global oil exporter.

Irans outreach to Venezuela is partly driven by economic interests and partly a desire to gain a foothold in Americas backyard, as the government parlance asserts. That explains the increasing appetite of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for building up ties in Latin America and even entertaining the idea of a military presence in Venezuelas waters.

But according to Richard Hanania, president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology and a research fellow at the University of Texas, Iran and Venezuela ultimately have little to offer each other.

The problem for each of these states is lack of access to global capital. Theyre both financially isolated from the rest of the world, so [theyre] not really in a position to help one another. Some of the things theyre promoting, like direct flights, should have practically no impact on geopolitics or the global economy, he said.

This seems like a political ploy more than anything, [and] it is difficult to see how a trip by Maduro to Iran could have been economically justified. It looks bad for a nation to be isolated from the rest of the world, so its beneficial to show oneself with friends, regardless of how useful those friends are, Hanania told Asia Times.

Other critics concur that the small, beleaguered Latin American nation is incapable of making any meaningful contribution to the economic rehabilitation of Iran while a revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and related sanctions relief are still distant hopes.

Venezuela doesnt have much to offer Iran. Its economy is in shambles it may, even, be in worse shape than Irans economy, and its oil and petrochemical facilities are in a state of disrepair. Iran has had some success at selling its oil to China and others in defiance of US sanctions, but Venezuelas oil sales have dropped to nothing, both due to sanctions and the physical deterioration of its facilities and oil fields, said Gregory Brew, a historian of Iran-US relations and Henry A Kissinger postdoctoral fellow at Yale University.

So, the gains for Iran are largely political and strategic, strengthening ties with a state antagonistic toward the US at a time when US-Iran relations are set to worsen, given the declining chances of a return to the JCPOA, he said.

Brew told Asia Times the United States is interested in bringing Venezuela back into the global oil market and efforts are being tentatively pursued with that goal in mind.

While there are no US oil companies with an open interest in pursuing commercial ties with Iran, Chevron maintains a standing interest in Venezuelan oil and continues to lobby for an end to the sanctions regime.

Venezuela arguably has more to gain from a rapprochement with the US than with a new relationship with Tehran and that may mitigate the effectiveness of Tehrans outreach to Caracas, assuming the US effort bears fruit.

Claudia Gago Ostos, a research intern at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, a Washington-based non-partisan think tank, argues Iran and Venezuela can benefit each other but not enough to be mutual economic lifelines.

With oil prices rising, certain benefits or a little breathing room might come, but not enough to consider either country as a lifeline against sanctions.

Similarly, Iran has signed a 25-year cooperation agreement with China, and a proposed 20-year deal with Russia exists, although both lack details and concrete plans. More profitable contracts for both countries could come from their alliances with China, Turkey or Russia, all more prominent economic players, she said.

In the first year after the signing of the JCPOA under then-president Hassan Rouhani, the heads of state and governments of Greece, Switzerland, Italy, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia traveled to Tehran, exemplifying an unprecedented eagerness by EU member states and wider Europe to revive relations with Iran.

Today, toward the end of President Raisis first year in office, no Western leader has visited Iran, underscoring its enduring isolation.

Irans renewed interest in forging close ties with Venezuela does not mean that Tehrans relations with the West are inevitably going to be tense and fraught for the foreseeable future, but it does show Tehran is hedging its bets on improved ties with the United States, which is not surprising given the extreme hostility of the Trump administration toward Iran and the slow progress of negotiations with the Biden administration on reviving the JCPOA, said David Wight, a visiting assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

As the Biden administration navigates options to bring down the global oil prices, including by engaging Venezuela, experts believe Irans continued bromance with its Latin American partner could be a double-edged sword of risks and benefits as long as relations with the US are not restored.

I think its risky for Iran to court Venezuela like this. It strengthens the argument among American hawks that Iran is an offensively-minded country that threatens America rather than a defensively-oriented country focused on its own region. This viewpoint could be used to topple the regime in Tehran, ventured Max Abrahms, an associate professor of political science at Northeastern University.

On the other hand, Venezuela arguably gives Iran some strategic benefits in terms of projecting power into the Americas, so there are cross-cutting strategic effects of this bilateral relationship, he added.

Follow Kourosh Ziabari on Twitter at @KZiabari

Original post:
What's really behind the Iran-Venezuela bromance? - Asia Times