Trump’s Venezuela 'regime capture' model faces test in Iran

Donald Trump has described the removal of Venezuela’s leader and the swift elevation of Delcy Rodríguez as a model for abroad: a US-tracked head of an oil-rich, US-baiting nation is seized, force secures a change and a more pliant successor takes power. In Caracas, Nicolás Maduro was abducted on 3 January and Rodríguez publicly thanked Trump as she assumed control.

After Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in Tehran during a devastating Israeli-US operation, Trump said he wanted to be involved in picking a successor “like with Delcy in Venezuela,” calling the Venezuela outcome “the perfect scenario.” A State Department official described the approach as “decapitate and delegate,” managing a regime’s behaviour from afar without US boots on the ground.

Analysts say the comparison overlooks deep differences.

donald trump, venezuela, delcy rodríguez, nicolás maduro, iran, ali khamenei, tehran, regime capture, state department, regime change