After Venezuela raid, protest-hit Iran wary of possible US plot against its rulers |
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran faces a new round of protests challenging the country’s theocracy, but it seems like the only thing people there want to talk about is half a world away: Venezuela.
Since the US military seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime ally of Tehran, over the weekend, Iranian state media headlines and officials have condemned the operation. In the streets and even in some official conversations, however, there’s a growing question over whether a similar mission could target the Islamic Republic’s top officials, including the supreme leader, 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The paranoia feeds into wider worries among Iranians. Many fear that close US ally Israel will target Iran again as it did during the 12-day war it launched against Tehran in June.
Israel said its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.
Khamenei is believed to have gone into hiding for his protection.
“God bless our leader, we should be careful too,” said Saeed Seyyedi, a 57-year-old teacher in Tehran, worried the US could act as it did in Venezuela.
“The US has always been after plots against Iran, especially when issues like oil, Israel are part of the case. In addition, it can be complicated when it is mixed with the Russia-Ukraine war, the Lebanese (terror group) Hezbollah, and drug accusations.”
The US has long accused the Iranian-backed Hezbollah of running drug-smuggling operations to fund its operations, including in Latin America, which the group denies.
Immediately after Maduro’s seizure, an analyst on Iranian state television claimed, without offering evidence, that the US and Israel had plans during the war last year to........