It is no secret that Iran, Venezuela and Cuba have close relations with each other, especially considering that they are all basically dictatorships. Iran is under the control of a Supreme Leader who is supposed to be a democracy, while Venezuela and Cuba are actually dictatorships. But their relationship is mostly anti-American. They help each other in relation to funding, weapons, intelligence and many other things such as protecting criminals wanted by the United States. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayCuba is known for funding terrorist groups outside the country such as Al-Queda, Hezbollah, and Hamas. Ghazi Nasr Al di and Fawzi Kanaan, two Shiite Arabs, were sent to Caracas, Venezuela, to then be under the protection of the Venezuelan government. From there they work with the Cuban government to advance Hezbollah and Iranian objectives in South America and against the United States. They also raise funds for Hezbollah and help Hezbollah activists travel to Venezuela and neighboring countries. For example, there are reports that they smuggled narcotics and terrorists into the United States through Mexico, as well as weapons and explosives under Iranian diplomatic cover. This would not even be the first time that Cuba has financed groups that are not considered acceptable by the rest of the world or even by the sanctions that have been imposed. In 2013, the United Nations caught them in violation of their sanctions. Cuba successfully smuggled weapons from Cuba to North Korea under Castro's rule. The UN report revealed that Cuba had “a comprehensive and planned strategy to conceal the existence and nature of the cargo.” Furthermore, “some, if not all, of the shipment would not be returned to Cuba. In 2014, the Castro government also admitted to facilitating terrorist financing and said it would begin freezing bank assets linked to Al- Qaeda. The first evidence of relations between Iran and Venezuela dates back to 2001 when Hugo Chavez, former President of Venezuela, approached then President of Iran Mohamed Khatami to develop strong ties with the Iranian government. He wanted to focus specifically on energy production, economics and industrial cooperation. He said the reason for his visit to Iran is to “pave the way for peace, justice, stability and progress for the 21st century.” Chavez has since supported Iran's nuclear program. After Khatami came President Ahmadinejad who, together with Chavez, said he was against "American imperialism". At one point Venezuela had an interest in selling F-16 Fighting Falcons to Iran but, amid heavy controversy, they backed out and although it has clearly expressed its support for Iran's nuclear program, it denies having plans to build a atomic weapon with Iran. When Chavez died, President Ahmadinejad expressed online in a personal tribute in 2013 that “Chavez would return on the day of resurrection alongside religious figures like Jesus.” The economy of one's country is very important and when oil prices began to decline in In 2015 Venezuela and Iran joined forces to stabilize oil prices. In January 2015, Maduro visited Iran, as a stop on his tour of other OPEC countries. Both Maduro and Rouhani agree that the decline in oil prices is the result of increased fracking in the United States, as well as the use of oil prices as a “political ploy” by their common enemies. " Rouhani said that Iran and Venezuela will join forces to counter the strategies of world powers and stabilize prices at a levelreasonable in 2015. "At the time, Venezuelan oil accounted for more than 95% of the country's export earnings, with the price of a barrel halving compared to 2014. In June 2015, Iran and Venezuela signed a series of agreements to finance joint investments and improve the supply of goods, with Maduro announcing: “These are six agreements of great importance for the economy of our countries. The countries have agreed to jointly finance a research program in the field of nanotechnology and Maduro declared of having secured necessary goods for the Venezuelan people, such as medicines and surgical equipment. Iran's Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade reportedly said that the deal was subject to preliminary review by Iran's Ministry of Finance. officials. During the meetings, the presidents announced that they will reaffirm the mutual alliance between their countries. In January 2016, Maduro and Rouhani reportedly held telephone talks in which Maduro called on Rouhani to promote the adoption of. measures to restore oil prices on the world market, with Maduro calling for a meeting of OPEC members to address the issue and congratulating Rouhani on the recent lifting of sanctions. As stated earlier, all these regimes have a common goal: to go against the United States. The three regimes increasingly coordinate their policies and resources in a three-way partnership aimed at countering and evading U.S. policies in the Middle East and Latin America. So much so that when President Maduro won the election, Venezuela and Cuba felt that America was backing away from interfering with their governments because for a long time the United States tried to isolate both countries so that they could not influence the countries that surrounded them. In addition to this, Cuba has demonstrated technical prowess in interfering and intercepting US telecommunications; Cuba has deployed a highly effective human intelligence network around the world. The type of espionage conducted by Ana Belen Montes, the senior US defense intelligence analyst who spied for Cuba for about 16 years until her arrest in 2001, allowed the Castro regime to obtain an enormous amount of information about US vulnerabilities as well as an adequate understanding of the structure of the US security system. Such information and analysis was provided to Saddam Hussein prior to the American invasion of Iraq and is provided to a strategic ally such as Iran. While it can be argued that factors such as Iran's limited military capabilities and its distinct distance from the United States diminish any conventional concerns, it should be expected that Iran, in the event of a conflict between the United States and Iran, would launch an offensive asymmetric against the United States and its European allies. through neighboring terrorist states and paramilitary organizations. In such a scenario, Cuban intelligence would be extremely valuable to Iran, and its proxies and terrorist groups could use Cuban territory to launch operations against the United States. Furthermore, the FBI estimates that Cuba has been a haven for tons of US fugitives living on the island under the protection of the Castro regime. Some of these fugitives are accused of or have been convicted of murder, kidnapping and hijacking, and include known killers of police officers in New Jersey and New Mexico, the most notable among them being Joanne Chesimard, framed by the FBI in 2013. List of the most wanted terrorists”. But Cuba doesn't just do things behind the scenes. In 1996, Cuba ordered a pair of Cuban Air Force pilots, Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez and theGeneral Ruben Martinez Puente, to shoot down two unarmed American civilian planes over international waters in the Strait of Florida. The United States brought charges against both pilots, charges that were obviously not recognized by Cuba. This terrorist act, ordered directly by Fidel and Raúl Castro, killed four men, three of whom were American citizens. Before Barjam, Tehran's support for Cuba was prominent. Since 2005, Cuba has received more than $1 overall. 2 billion in loans from Iran. With this money, Cuba was able to make the investments necessary to restore Soviet-era infrastructure. In total, Iran is financing around 60 projects that include the acquisition of 750 Iranian-made rail cars and the construction of facilities such as power plants, dams and highways. Recently, Saudi Arabia has also sought to strengthen its ties with Cuba. In April, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir visited Cuba for two days. Relations between Saudi Arabia and Cuba date back to 1956, with the Kingdom opening its embassy in Havana in 2011. In May 2017, King Salman held talks in Jeddah with Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas and they agreed on a economic cooperation between them. Saudi Arabia has also extended loans to Cuba through the Saudi Development Fund to finance projects worth more than $80 million. Now, this is not a concern for the United States. In reality, Iran should be concerned about these talks. Al-Jubeir's visit to Cuba shows how Riyadh needs Havana to be part of its anti-extremist agenda. Riyadh is trying to bring Cuba into its fold, especially against Iran, in order to mitigate any support from Havana to Tehran as the confrontation between the United States and Iran grows. Saudi Arabia no longer stands by as Iran conducts its foreign policy anywhere in the world. Riyadh has noted how Cuban-Iranian relations have developed over time and given Tehran a hub in the Caribbean. Even if all this is just skepticism, it shows that Saudi Arabia is not waiting to make any moves. Now there is the Nexus, which is the nickname for the relations between Iran, Venezuela and Cuba, but somehow Russia always seems to find a way out in all relations against the United States. Just as in the Soviet Union era, Cuba asked Moscow for help in 2015. The Cuban economy is in trouble and needs cheap oil from Russia. Cuban leader Raúl Castro personally invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to regularly export oil to Russia. The request came after Venezuelan oil exports to Cuba suddenly dropped. Venezuela, now facing a full-scale economic catastrophe, has been a key contributor to Cuba for years. In the golden era of Caracas-Havana relations (when Hugo Chavez was still in power), Venezuela sent 105,000 barrels of oil per day to its Cuban counterparts. After Chávez's death, the figure dropped to 90,000 barrels per day, and recently reached 40,000 barrels per day. According to researchers at Columbia University in New York, oil exports from Venezuela have fallen by about 300,000 barrels this year, compared to the same period in 2015. "The decline in exports could pose a threat to the global oil market in 2017" , the researchers said. But this geopolitical risk has now become a serious challenge for Cuba. With significant reductions in Venezuelan aid, these days for Cuba are periodically reminiscent of the 1990s, when the Soviet Union cut off its aid to Havana and refused to pay subsidies.