FOXNews Digital: Maduro’s fall puts Iran’s deep energy and defense cooperation with Venezuela at risk

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Last week’s capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro opened the world to see the mess that the country with the largest proven oil deposit in the world was still starving and abusing its people. But there’s more to it than the alleged crimes of the previous leader.

Notably, one of Venezuela’s closest allies over the past few years has been the Islamic Republic of Iran. Broadly speaking, that regime is a staunch enemy of the West, and specifically, it hates the U.S. and the freedoms it stands for. 

"Despite being the country with the largest reserves, Venezuela’s oil industry is no longer able to refine its own gasoline to fulfill its own needs," Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior research fellow at The Center for Research of Terror Financing, told FOX Business. READ MORE HERE.