President Trump has officially adopted the Monroe Doctrine, whereby the United States claimed the right to intervene militarily in South and Central America in 1823, considering them their exclusive sphere of influence. By claiming the same right today, Trump is extending its scope to other regions, including Greenland, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. This is exemplified by the Trump Administration’s policies towards Venezuela, Iran and Iraq, which rank first, third and fifth respectively in the list of countries with the largest oil reserves in the world. 

The US wants to reduce Venezuela to a colonial state by seizing its oil reserves, the largest in the world.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee why the United States intervened militarily in Venezuela, arresting President Maduro to try him in a US court.

“In our hemisphere, we had a regime led by a criminal drug trafficker who had become a base of operations for virtually all of our competitors, adversaries and enemies around the world. For Iran, Venezuela was the main operational base in the Western Hemisphere. For Russia, the main operational base in the Western Hemisphere, along with Cuba and Nicaragua, was Venezuela. China received oil from Venezuela at a huge discount, about $20 a barrel, and did not even pay for it. It was used to repay the debts that Venezuela had accumulated.”

The Secretary of State then described the current situation in Venezuela:

“Every month, the Venezuelan government will present us with a budget of what they need us to finance. They have been very cooperative. They have committed to using a substantial portion of those funds to purchase equipment and medicines directly from the United States. One of the things they need is diluent. This is light crude oil that must be mixed with their heavy crude oil so that the oil can be transported. In the past, they imported 100% of it from Russia. Now they import 100% of it from the United States. The Venezuelan government deserves some credit. They have passed a new hydrocarbons law that essentially removes many of the Chávez-era restrictions on private investment in the country’s oil industry. It is probably not enough to attract adequate investment, but it is a big step forward. This is an important change.”

The US has dominated Iraq since it seized control of its oil reserves, the fifth largest in the world, in 2003.

The United States’ control over Iraq’s oil revenues stems from the management of Iraqi oil revenues through the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. After the 2003 invasion, the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) established the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), which was deposited with the Federal Reserve in New York. Oil is Iraq’s most important source of income, accounting for about 90% of the state budget. This gives Washington significant influence over the country’s economic and political stability. When the Iraqi government asked US troops to leave the country in 2020, Washington threatened to cut off Iraq’s access to funds from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Baghdad eventually backed down. Since US President Donald Trump returned to office, he has embarked on a campaign of maximum pressure against Iran, with Iraq often caught in the crossfire as Tehran has used it as a vital economic lifeline.

After the attack on Venezuela, the Trump Administration is preparing to attack Iran, whose oil reserves rank third in the world. 

Trump threatens Iran with a ‘massive military force’ and puts forward a series of demands. US and European officials say they have presented three requests to the Iranians, including the permanent cessation of all uranium enrichment activities. Iran, which has signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty and is therefore subject to UN controls, does not possess nuclear weapons but, like some thirty other countries, could one day manufacture them as there is no clear line of demarcation between civil and military nuclear programmes. Israel is the only country in the Middle East that possesses nuclear weapons and, having not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. It is not subject to any control. The United States is helping Israel modernise and upgrade its nuclear weapons, and has bombed Iranian nuclear facilities on Trump’s orders. The US’s strategic goal is to prevent Iran from ever acquiring nuclear weapons, ensuring that Israel remains the only nuclear power in the Middle East. At the same time, the US aims to prevent Iran from playing a pivotal role in Russia’s North-South Corridor and China’s New Silk Road initiatives. Lastly, the United States aims to control Iranian oil, as it already does with Iraqi oil and is beginning to do with Venezuelan oil.

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This article was originally published in Italian on Grandangolo, Byoblu TV.

Manlio Dinucci, award-winning author, geopolitical analyst and geographer, Pisa, Italy. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

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