Iran, Venezuela Won’t Back Down From Resisting US Sanctions

Russia promises to back Venezuela in resisting US attempts to force regime change

The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement Wednesday promising that US sanctions and threats will not change the position of either Iran or Venezuela, and that they will continue to trade, saying the US sanctions are a signal of the “miserable failure” of the US strategy.

The US has heavily sanctioned both Iran and Venezuela to the point that there is little disincentive for violating US demands at this point. The US also threatens war here and there, with Venezuela criticizing US provocations for their latest operations in Venezuela-claimed waters.

While most nations let the US more or less get away with this, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised Venezuela, and promised them Russian support for resisting US attempts to force regime change.

Russia and China both have continued to trade with Iran in spite of US sanctions, and presumably will do so with Venezuela as well. US options for those nations are limited, and mostly just involve condemning them emptily.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.