随着美国和伊朗向拉丁美洲派遣高级外交官，两国指责对方助长了全球不稳定。
伊朗外交部长穆罕默德贾瓦德扎里夫周五晚些时候结束了他的纽约之行，前往委内瑞拉。委内瑞拉的社会主义政府得到了伊斯兰共和国的支持，尽管美国领导的国家联盟试图任命一名反对派领导人。
扎里夫一到加拉加斯，就指责华盛顿不仅在波斯湾引发了动乱，在那里无人机和油轮引发的事件将该地区带到了冲突的边缘，拉丁美洲也是如此。
“委内瑞拉人民对美国的抵抗对世界人民和委内瑞拉人民非常重要。没有美国的干涉，委内瑞拉人民知道如何生活在一起，如何相处，”扎里夫在美国有线电视新闻网引用的评论中说。
“无论美国走到哪里，她都会带来不稳定和不安全。今天，在中东、南美和拉丁美洲地区，美国正在制造不稳定和不安全，”他补充说。“我们不知道世界上任何地方[的存在]带来了稳定或安全。无论他们走到哪里，都会导致不稳定、对人民和[的压力以及激进主义和恐怖主义的增加。”
7月18日，委内瑞拉中央大学的大学生在委内瑞拉国家情报局总部大门外抗议，要求在纳尔逊·曼德拉国际日框架内释放囚犯。自国民议会领导人胡安·瓜伊多1月份宣布自己为临时国家元首，挑战尼古拉斯·马杜罗总统以来，这个已经被日益加深的经济危机所困扰的国家的政治动荡加剧。尤里·科尔特斯/法新社/盖蒂图片社
长期紧张的关系唐纳德·特朗普总统决定退出2015年核协议后，美国和伊朗之间的关系恶化，该协议给予德黑兰制裁减免，以换取伊朗同意大幅遏制其核活动。根据国际原子能机构的多份报告，伊朗遵守了协议，但特朗普在2018年5月退出协议，指责伊朗利用解冻的资产资助激进组织和发展弹道导弹计划——德黑兰一再否认这一说法。
一年后，美国开始向中东派遣更多军事资产，以阻止它声称的伊朗构成的高度威胁。与此同时，华盛顿也试图通过以下方式结束西半球长达数月的政治僵局支持起义委内瑞拉反对派控制的国民议会领导人胡安·瓜伊多呼吁反对尼古拉斯·马杜罗总统。
这一努力最终失败，华盛顿迅速将责任归咎于中国、俄罗斯和伊朗等外国大国，这些国家继续承认马杜罗为总统，并在美国制裁加剧的经济危机中支持他的政府。
自那以后的几个月里，委内瑞拉的对立派别开始谈判，美国似乎将外交政策的焦点转向伊朗，指责伊朗将阿曼湾运输石油的商业船只作为攻击目标，因为德黑兰开始将其铀储备浓缩到华盛顿放弃的协议中概述的水平之外。
然而，星期五，国务卿麦克·庞贝也前往拉丁美洲。抵达布宜诺斯艾利斯后，他再次批评伊朗在该地区的活动。当被问及莫斯科、北京和德黑兰对加拉加斯的影响时，庞贝周五对阿根廷Infobae新闻媒体表示，“我们希望每个外国势力都离开”委内瑞拉。在委内瑞拉，华盛顿一直在寻求扩大自己的影响力，同时继续想方设法促使一位被认为是非法的领导人离开。
“我们希望委内瑞拉人民掌握自己的命运。我们认为这样最好。庞贝说:“最后，我相信委内瑞拉人民会夺回他们的国家。”周六晚些时候，他在推特上表示，“我们和我们的合作伙伴都知道，我们致力于应对包括伊朗在内的非法行为者构成的威胁，这些行为者危及我们所有人。”
伊朗革命卫队7月9日发布的一段录像中的一幅静物据称显示，他们的一架无人驾驶飞机正在监视美国海军黄蜂级两栖攻击舰“鲍克瑟号”的行动，唐纳德·特朗普总统声称前一天在霍尔木兹海峡击落了一架伊朗无人驾驶飞机。伊斯兰革命卫队
尽管欧盟、法国、德国和英国在支持瓜伊多的同时，俄罗斯和中国也支持委内瑞拉的马杜罗，但所有这些大国仍然支持它们在2015年签署的伊朗核协议，并谴责美国退出。
尤其是莫斯科和北京，指控华盛顿随着德黑兰的经济被单方面实施的贸易限制破坏，伊朗与德黑兰的紧张关系不断加剧。
在波斯湾最近的骚乱事件中，特朗普周四声称，美国海军击落了一架据称骚扰其军舰的伊朗无人驾驶飞机，几小时前，伊朗革命卫队周五发布了据称推翻总统说法的录像，该录像显示精英团体扣押了一艘悬挂英国国旗的油轮被指控在穿越霍尔木兹海峡时关闭了转发器。此前几周，英国扣押了一艘被控试图通过直布罗陀向叙利亚运输石油的伊朗超级油轮，这显然违反了欧盟的制裁。
“与直布罗陀海峡的海盗行为不同，我们在波斯湾的行动是维护国际海事规则。正如我在纽约说过的，是伊朗保证了波斯湾&霍尔木兹海峡的安全。扎里夫周六在推特上写道:“英国必须停止成为美国#经济特征主义的附属品”，后来他还将这个话题与委内瑞拉联系在一起。
“美国#经济特征主义是一个全球性威胁，”他补充道。“我在委内瑞拉参加#不结盟运动会议，旨在形成全球对单边主义的回应。在伊朗与世界的交往中，我们既不要求驱逐领导人，也不“支持”他们——这是一个国家人民的决定。”
U.S. AND IRAN ACCUSE EACH OTHER OF RUINING THE WORLD AS THEY SEND TOP DIPLOMATS TO LATIN AMERICA
The U.S. and Iran have accused one another of fostering global instability as both countries sent their top diplomats to Latin America.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif ended his New York trip late Friday as he left for Venezuela, whose socialist government was backed by the Islamic Republic in spite of attempts by a U.S.-led coalition of countries to install an opposition leader.
Once in Caracas, Zarif blamed Washington for sparking unrest not only in the Persian Gulf, where incidents involving drones and oil tankers have brought the region to the brink of conflict, but also Latin America.
"The resistance of the people of Venezuela against the United States is very important for the people of the world and the people of Venezuela. Without the interference of the USA, the people of Venezuela know how to live together and how to get along with each other," Zarif said in comments cited by CNN.
"Wherever the USA steps, she brings instability and insecurity. Today in the Middle East and the regions of South America and Latin America, USA is creating instability and insecurity," he added. "We do not know anywhere in the world that [the presence] of the USA has brought stability or security. Wherever they go they cause instability, pressure on people and [an] increase in radicalism and terrorism."
University students from the Central University of Venezuela protest outside the main entrance of the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, known as "El Helicoide," in demand of the release of prisoners in the framework of Nelson Mandela International Day, in Caracas, July 18. The country, already beset by a deepening economic crisis, has seen a spike in political unrest since National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó declared himself interim head of state in January, challenging President Nicolás Maduro.YURI CORTEZ/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Long-strained relations between the U.S. and Iran worsened after President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from a 2015 nuclear deal that granted Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for the country agreeing to significantly curb its nuclear activities. Iran complied with the agreement, according to multiple reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but Trump withdrew from it in May 2018, accusing Iran of using unfrozen assets to fund militant groups and develop its ballistic missile program — a claim Tehran has repeatedly denied.
One year later, the U.S. began to send additional military assets to the Middle East to deter what it claimed was heightened threats posed by Iran. Around this same time, Washington also sought to end a months-long political standoff in the Western Hemisphere by backing an uprising called for by Venezuela's opposition-controlled National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó against President Nicolás Maduro.
The effort ultimately failed and Washington swiftly placed the blame on foreign powers such as China, Russia and Iran, who have continued to recognize Maduro as president and supported his administration amid an economic crisis exacerbated by U.S. sanctions.
In the months since, Venezuela's opposing factions have entered into talks and the U.S. appeared to shift its foreign policy focus toward Iran, accusing it of targeting commercial vessels transporting oil in the Gulf of Oman as Tehran began to enrich its uranium stockpile beyond levels outlined in the deal that Washington abandoned.
On Friday, however, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also headed to Latin America. After landing in Buenos Aires, he renewed criticism of Iranian activities in the region. Asked about the influence of Moscow, Beijing and Tehran in Caracas, Pompeo told Argentina's Infobae news outlet Friday that "we hope every foreign power will leave" Venezuela, a country in which Washington has sought to expand its own presence as it continued to find ways to foster the departure of a leader it considered illegitimate.
"We want the Venezuelan people to control their own destiny. We think that would be best. In the end, I'm confident that the Venezuelan people will take back their country," Pompeo said, later tweeting on Saturday that he was "secure in the knowledge that we and our partners are committed to addressing the threats posed by the illicit actors—including Iran—who endanger us all."
A still from footage released July 9 by Iran's Revolutionary Guards is purported to show one of their drones monitoring the movements of the U.S. Navy's Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, which President Donald Trump claimed shot down an Iranian drone the previous day in the Strait of Hormuz.ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS
While the European Union, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have supported Guaidó at the same time as Russia and China backed Maduro in Venezuela, all of these powers still backed the Iran nuclear deal they signed in 2015 and have condemned the U.S. exit.
Moscow and Beijing, in particular, have charged Washington with deliberately ratcheting up tensions with Tehran as its economy was wrecked by unilaterally-imposed trade restrictions.
In the most recent instances of turmoil in the Persian Gulf, Trump claimed Thursday that the U.S. Navy shot down an Iranian drone allegedly harassing one of its warships and, hours after Iran's Revolutionary Guards released footage Friday purported to disprove the president's claim, the elite group seized a U.K.-flagged oil tanker accused of turning off its transponder as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz. The move came weeks after the U.K. seized an Iranian supertanker accused of attempting to transport oil to Syria through Gibraltar, an apparent violation of EU sanctions.
"Unlike the piracy in the Strait of Gibraltar, our action in the Persian Gulf is to uphold int'l maritime rules. As I said in NY, it is IRAN that guarantees the security of the Persian Gulf & the Strait of Hormuz. UK must cease being an accessory to #EconomicTerrorism of the US," Zarif tweeted Saturday, later tying the subject to Venezuela as well.
"US #EconomicTerrorism is a global menace," he added. "I'm in Venezuela to attend #NAM meeting geared to forge global response to unilateralism. In Iran's engagement with the world, we neither call for the ouster of leaders, nor 'bolster' them—decisions that are for the PEOPLE of a nation."
