Tehran has 'a very rich portfolio of systems they could offer' to Caracas, said Middle East drone expert, Fabian Hinz.
Drones Venezuela reportedly requested from Iran, as tensions between Caracas and Washington rise, would place multiple U.S. military bases in the Caribbean within striking reach for Caracas. Venezuelan Transport Minister Ramón Celestino Velásquez told an unnamed Iranian official that Caracas needed drones with a range of 1,000 kilometers, or 600 miles, The Washington Post reported on October 31, citing internal U.
S. government documents. Venezuela also needs other equipment, such as an electronic warfare kit and “passive detection equipment,” according to the documents. The Context Venezuela has been spooked by a massive U.S. military buildup in the southern Caribbean and U.S. lethal strikes on alleged drug boats close to the country and in the eastern Pacific. President Donald Trump and his administration have framed the attacks as a crackdown on drug smuggling into the U.S., a characterization seen by many observers and former officials as a smokescreen for removing Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro. Experts and lawmakers have criticized the strikes as illegal under international law, which the administration denies. At least 67 people have been killed, according to the administration’s own numbers. Trump has authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to carry out covert operations in the country and has left the door firmly open to unspecified land operations. Maduro, who is wanted in the U.S. on narco-trafficking and corruption charges, has appealed for peace but said the country is ready to respond to any American attack. Venezuela’s military is focused on protecting the country’s sovereignty, propped up by Russian, Chinese and Iranian equipment and ill-suited to any foreign operations, according to analysts. What To Know Maduro also penned a missive to Russian President Vladimir Putin and separately appealed to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, lobbying for “expanded military cooperation” between the nations in light of “the escalation between the U.S. and Venezuela,” according to the documents. It’s not clear from the report which types of drones Venezuela requested. Caracas may be hoping to secure long-range reconnaissance drones, which would likely need to be linked up to satellites to have usable live feeds, or be lusting after one-way attack drones. Iran has “a very rich portfolio of systems they could offer” to Venezuela, said Fabian Hinz, an expert in Iranian drones with the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank. It’s hard to tell what Venezuela’s Iran-stocked shelves look like, but it’s thought to operate an early iteration of Tehran’s Mohajer-2 reconnaissance drone. Caracas may have also acquired the upgraded Mohajer-6, an analog to the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 that was popular in the early days of the Ukraine war. Venezuela appears to have a handful of other drones with some Iranian components, Hinz told Newsweek. Many types of Iran’s Shahed drones — infamously used by Russia in Ukraine — could have a range of more than 600 miles, including the Shahed-131. The U.S. military has several bases or facilities in Puerto Rico. Among the active sites are the Fort Buchanan U.S. Army base, the Camp Santiago Joint Training Center — a Puerto Rico National Guard facility — and the Muñiz Air National Guard Base, attached to the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, the island’s main hub. F-35 fighter jets were also spotted landing at the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, on the eastern side of Puerto Rico, in mid-September. The facility had closed more than two decades ago. Reuters has reported the U.S. is upgrading landing and take-off capabilities at the base, expanding facilities at the Rafael Hernandez Airport in Puerto Rico and at the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport in St Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Both are approximately 500 miles from Venezuela. Just within range would also be U.S. forces at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay on Cuba’s southern tip. The U.S. can also use airfields in Aruba and Curaçao, dubbed Cooperative Security Locations.
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