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American Researcher: Iran has Multiple Terrorism Aspects in Latin America | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, left, talks to Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, right, in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Aug. 22, 2016. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)


Bogota – Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif is currently on an official visit to Latin America, where he will meet with high-ranking officials from six different countries including Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia and Venezuela.

Observers say that the countries on Zarif’s list were all involved in a way or another in supporting Hezbollah, Iran’s terrorist wing.

In an interview with Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, researcher and founder of the American Center for Democracy Rachel Ehrenfeld said that countries such as Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua have supported the Iranian regime to infiltrate into Latin America through the terror group Hezbollah.

She added that commercial exchange that is being publicized by Iran consist in fact of drug trafficking and arms trading.

Asked about Iran’s interests in Latin America, Ehrenfeld said that the Persian State was challenging the United States by trying to mend ties with the Latin continent.

She added that U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has failed to stop the Iranian infiltration in the region.

Ehrenfeld went on to say that Zarif’s visit was aimed at fulfilling Hezbollah’s interests in the region.
She noted that the terrorist group was known for its wide drug trafficking in the Latin continent.

The American researcher also said that all the countries that Zarif will visit, excluding Chile, were facilitating the illegal work of Hezbollah on its territories.

She added that Iran’s involvement in any country raises much concern.

“It is sufficient to recall Iran’s role in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen,” she said.

Dr. Ehrenfeld is the founder and CEO of the New York-based American Center for Democracy and the Economic Warfare Institute. She is also is an authority on economic warfare, including Weapons of Mass Effect (WME), lawfare, terror financing, disinformation, jihadist movements and corruption.