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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Tom Phillips Latin America correspondent

Trump ‘reaping bitter fruit’ of thinking Iran intervention as easy as Venezuela, says former diplomat

Nicolás Maduro stands with his hands cuffed in front of him and US agents around him in front of a backdrop that looks like a reflection of fire or flames.
Nicolás Maduro is escorted to the courthouse in Manhattan to face US federal charges after his capture in January. Photograph: Adam Gray/Reuters

Donald Trump is “reaping the bitter fruit” of erroneously thinking that the capture of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, offered a blueprint for toppling the Iranian regime, according to one of the US state department’s most respected former Latin America experts.

John Feeley, a Marine helicopter pilot who later served as the US ambassador to Panama, believed Trump had been “flush with the victory from Venezuela” when he made the ill-fated decision to attack Iran in February, leaving a trail of destruction across the Middle East and dealing a hammer blow to the global economy.

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