AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The Trump administration has formally revived a Monroe Doctrine–based approach in US foreign policy, a doctrine first articulated in 1823 that asserted Washington’s claimed right to intervene militarily in Central and South America as its exclusive sphere of influence. Analysts say the administration has expanded the scope of this doctrine beyond the Western Hemisphere to include regions such as Greenland, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.
This approach is evident in Washington’s policies toward countries including Venezuela, Iran, and Iraq—states that hold, respectively, the world’s largest, third-largest, and fifth-largest proven oil reserves. The focus on these countries, analysts argue, underscores energy resource control as the central pillar of the new US strategy.
In Latin America, the United States has been accused of direct intervention in Venezuela with the aim of turning the country into a dependent, US-influenced state. US officials have said that access to and control over Venezuela’s vast oil reserves constitute the primary objective of this intervention. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in comments explaining the detention of Nicolás Maduro and his transfer to a US court, described Venezuela as an “operational hub” for Iran, Russia, and China in the Western Hemisphere.
Rubio claimed that Iran had used Venezuela as its most important base of activity in the region, while Russia, alongside Cuba and Nicaragua, also regarded Venezuela as a key foothold. He added that China had been receiving Venezuelan oil at steep discounts as part of debt repayments. Rubio further spoke of structural changes in Venezuela’s economy following US intervention, saying the country’s new government submits its monthly budget to Washington for financing, with a significant portion spent on purchasing equipment and medicines from the United States.
In the Middle East, Iraq continues to be cited as a clear example of entrenched US structural influence. Following the 2003 invasion, Washington gained substantial leverage over Iraq’s economy by managing the country’s oil revenues through the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Oil accounts for around 90 percent of Iraq’s government income, providing the United States with a powerful pressure tool. In 2020, when Baghdad called for the withdrawal of US forces, Washington threatened to cut off Iraq’s access to its funds held at the Federal Reserve, a move that ultimately led to a reversal by the Iraqi government.
With Donald Trump’s return to power, the policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran has also been reinstated. US and European officials have reported presenting Tehran with a set of demands, including the permanent cessation of uranium enrichment. Iran, however, is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and remains subject to international monitoring.
By contrast, the Israeli regime, widely regarded as the only nuclear-armed entity in the Middle East, has neither signed the treaty nor accepted international oversight. While continuing to support Israel’s nuclear program, the United States has, according to media reports, carried out strikes on certain Iranian nuclear facilities as part of its new policies.
According to the report, Washington’s strategic objectives include preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power, preserving the Israeli regime’s nuclear superiority in the region, limiting Tehran’s role in Russian and Chinese economic initiatives, and ultimately controlling Iran’s oil resources, an approach previously implemented in Iraq and now, analysts say, being applied in Venezuela as well.
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