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By Tom O'Connor
Deputy Editor, National Security and Foreign Policy
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A spokesperson for Hezbollah has shared with Newsweek a response to Secretary of State Marco Rubio's warning against the group's alleged presence in Venezuela after U.S. forces seized the South American nation's president in a raid.
Speaking to CBS News on Sunday, a day after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured along with his wife by elite U.S. Delta Force operatives on charges of "narco-terrorism," Rubio asserted that "in the 21st century, under the Trump administration, we are not going to have a country like Venezuela in our own hemisphere, in the sphere of control and the crossroads for Hezbollah, for Iran and for every other malign influence in the world."
He reiterated that there will be "no more Iran/Hezbollah presence there," as questions surround the next steps of both the Venezuelan government, now led by Maduro's vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, as well as the White House.
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Responding to the comments, a Hezbollah spokesperson told Newsweek that there was "certainly not" any presence of the Lebanese movement in Venezuela, or anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere, and that President Donald Trump's policies were rooted in an attempt to impose Washington's views abroad.
"This is a matter of public freedoms, liberties, and national sovereignty," the Hezbollah spokesperson said. "Trump cannot be the guardian of the world or possess it by force."
Newsweek has also reached out to the Iranian Mission to the United Nations and the U.S. State Department for comment.
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Venezuela and the Axis of Resistance
Since the rise to power of Maduro's predecessor, late President Hugo Chávez, in 1999, Venezuela has forged geopolitical ties with Iran. Maduro, who succeeded Chávez following his death in 2013, explicitly stated that Venezuela was part of the Iran-led "Axis of Resistance" that also includes Hezbollah and several other non-state actors.
He reiterated this sentiment in October 2023, days after the war in Gaza drew the informal coalition into a direct conflict with Israel.
Relations between Caracas and Tehran have been forged on a number of levels, including the sustained travel of Iranian oil tankers to Venezuela amid the country's ongoing economic crisis, as well as visits exchanged by leaders and high-level officials. They have also engaged in military cooperation, with images emerging last month of Iranian Mohajer-6 drones entering into service with the Venezuelan armed forces.
The U.S. has issued sanctions targeting Iran-Venezuela cooperation in both areas.
The two countries have often framed their partnership in solidarity with a shared opposition to U.S. policy moves in Latin America and the Middle East. Washington does not have formal relations with either country, with Trump having severed ties with Maduro's administration in 2019 following allegations of election fraud.
Since Trump assumed office for a second time a year ago, the U.S. leader has ramped up threats targeting both nations. Last June, Trump ordered direct strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities and threatened Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei amid an intensive 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel; soon after, he began threatening action against Venezuela over allegations of state collusion with drug cartels, namely the Cartel of the Suns, which U.S. officials suspect has the backing of senior Venezuelan officials.
After months of overseeing strikes on vessels accused of trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, Trump ordered the Special Operations Forces raid early Saturday that involved large-scale strikes and the capture of Maduro and his wife, who have since been transported to New York City to face "narco-terrorism" charges first brought against the couple by the Department of Justice under the first Trump administration in 2020.
Iran has decried the operation, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi expressing his support for Caracas during a call with his Venezuelan counterpart Yván Gil Pinto on Sunday.
A readout issued by the Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that Araghchi "strongly condemned the U.S. military aggression against Venezuela and the abduction of the country’s legitimate president and his wife," describing the act as a "clear example of state terrorism and a blatant assault on the sovereignty and national will of the Venezuelan people," while emphasizing Tehran's "support for the people and the elected government of Venezuela**.**"
Gil, for his part, was said to have expressed "appreciation for the principled positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran in demonstrating solidarity with his country," and "stressed that the people and government of Venezuela are determined to defend their national sovereignty and right to self-determination in the face of the United States’ bullying and unlawful policies."
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has also demanded that Maduro "must be released."
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Hezbollah in the Western Hemisphere
While Hezbollah's primary area of operations are in the Middle East, reports dating back decades indicate attempts by the group to build a presence in Latin America, with Venezuela long suspected of being a major base of operations. Last year, then-Argentinian National Security Minister Patricia Bullrich identified one of the suspects in a deadly 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires as being the head of Hezbollah's operations in Latin America who had operated with false documents issued by Venezuelan officials.
Hezbollah and Iran have always denied any connection to the bombing.
Hezbollah's presence in the region was the subject of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration campaign known as Project Cassandra that was launched in 2008 with the aim of disrupting networks of narcotics trafficking and money laundering linked to the group.
Venezuelan officials suspected of involvement in such operations include former Vice President Tareck El Aissami, who was charged by Maduro's administration with treason following a corruption probe in 2023, and special envoy Alex Saab, who was arrested by U.S. officials in 2020 and later released in 2023 as part of an exchange for 10 U.S. nationals imprisoned in Venezuela.
In October of last year, former Treasury Secretary Marshall Billingslea alleged that the U.S. had evidence indicating that Venezuelan authorities had since at least 2001 fostered opportunities for Hezbollah's presence in Venezuela, including the opening of a paramilitary training center on Margarita Island, the awarding of business contracts, the provision of passports and other activities that "dramatically expanded" when Maduro took power.
Israel, which continues to strike alleged Hezbollah targets in Lebanon more than a year after a November 2024 ceasefire reached with the group amid the war in Gaza, has also claimed evidence of growing Hezbollah presence in Venezuela.
In November of last year, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar described Venezuela as a "nexus" for "criminals" who "are building narco-terror alliances with the Middle East terror states." He asserted that Venezuela "serves as a base for Hezbollah terror operatives" and "hosts an Iranian weapons production facility," also citing Maduro's claim of Venezuela being a member of the Axis of Resistance.
Following news of the U.S. raid that captured Maduro, Sa'ar commended Trump for what he said was a blow to an enemy axis.
"At this historic moment, Israel stands alongside the freedom-loving Venezuelan people, who have suffered under Maduro’s illegal tyranny," Saar wrote on Saturday. "Israel welcomes the removal of the dictator who led a network of drugs and terror and hopes for the return of democracy to the country and for friendly relations between the states."
"The people of Venezuela deserve to exercise their democratic rights," he added. "South America deserves a future free from the axis of terror and drugs."
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The Fate of the Movement
While Rodríguez has protested the U.S. capture of Maduro, she has also signaled a willingness to enter into negotiations with Washington to avoid further escalation.
The implications for Hezbollah remain uncertain, though the loss of influence in Venezuela would mark the latest in a series of blows suffered by the group since an intensified Israeli campaign that killed its longtime leader, Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, in September 2024, along with scores of other high-ranking officials and fighters. The fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to rebel forces that December further isolated the group by severing a land route to Tehran via friendly Axis of Resistance factions in Iraq.
Still, experts and officials believe Hezbollah still possesses considerable military capabilities and remains capable of regrouping.
U.S. officials have also ramped up pressure calling on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah and demand the group withdraw north of the Litani River in the country's south in line with the 2024 truce with Israel and an earlier United Nations Security Council resolution that put an end to a month-long war in 2006. Hezbollah has repeatedly pledged to abide by the ceasefire while calling on Israeli officials to cease strikes on Lebanese territory and withdraw forces from several areas in southern Lebanon, demands echoed by Lebanese officials.
In an address coinciding with the sixth anniversary of the U.S. strike that killed Iranian Quds Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani, Nasrallah's successor, Naim Qassem, defended the group's Axis of Resistance alignment with Iran and called for national unity in Lebanon against Israel as well as the U.S.
"We are proud of our relationship with Iran, which gave to us and took nothing from us, and shame, all shame on those who are subject to the American tutelage and are subordinate to it," Qassem said. "Shame, all shame on those who promote Israel's right to occupation, justify its pretexts, do not demand its withdrawal, and do not pressure to stop its aggression."
Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces Arabic-language spokesperson Colonel Avichay Adraee issued a new announcement Monday calling on residents of two Lebanese villages to immediately evacuate designated areas ahead of impending Israeli military strikes targeting "military infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization, in response to its illegal attempts to reestablish its activity in the area."
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