ABSTRACT
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been involved in Latin America for a couple of decades now. These ties deepened with the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005–2013); however, these ties have not dissolved with the changes in leadership both in Iran and various Latin American countries. Iran’s involvement in Latin America is two-fold. First, Latin America is rich in the mineral resources that are necessary to Iran’s nuclear programme. Second, Latin America provides a locale from which Iran can challenge and provide deterrence to a possible US military option against Iran. Lebanese Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy group, has had a Latin American presence since the 1990s. The large Lebanese diaspora communities in Latin America provide support and serve as valuable sources of revenue for both Iran and Hezbollah. Some Latin American countries have allowed Iran to set up terrorist training camps, fundraise, launder money, collect intelligence, and carry out operations. This chapter examines these aspects in relations to mainly anti-US leftist regimes in Latin America and explains the benefits to both Iran and these regimes resulting from these close ties.
