Defense Minister Benny Gantz in his last speech at the Herzliya Conference at Reichman University - "Iran also operates outside the Middle East, transferring oil and weapons to Venezuela, while operating a Quds Force in South America."
Last January, we first revealed here on the channel a delegation from Unit 840 of the Iranian Quds Force and Mahan-Air CEO Hamid Arabanjad, who flew to Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, to strengthen trade ties between the two countries, in contrast to the sanctions imposed on Iran.
In recent years, Quds Force has operated a cargo flight line from Iran to Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, through Mahan-Air.
According to the Iranian airline Mahan-Air, the cargo landing in Venezuela from Iran is legitimate and legal engineering equipment, but this is not the case.
An internal airline document reveals how during 2020, Mahan-Air flew sixteen cargo flights using Airbus-A340 aircraft to and from Venezuela. Although it looks like a small number of flights, according to the documents sixteen flights are enough to carry about 544 thousand tons of technological equipment, weapons or anything else.
Mahan-Air claims that all 544,000 tons transported in the cargo planes are equipment for the Venezuelan refineries, according to foreign reports some of the equipment was transferred for the purpose of rehabilitating and upgrading the Venezuelan refineries but not in that quantity.
Another document obtained by a Western intelligence agency shows that Mahan-Air reported that they carry dozens of tons of medicine and humanitarian equipment on every flight to Venezuela - which may indicate that the internal cargo on these planes is hidden.
An official letter sent in October last year by Venezuela's Minister of Trade and Economy to Mahan-Air CEO Hamid Arbanjad was revealed in the minister's letter thanking Arabanjad for the shipment of 5 million barrels of petrol "bought" by Venezuela.
This appears to be the whitewashing letter for other equipment that Arabanjad transferred through his airline and under the command of Quds Force, most likely weapons, as oil barrels are unlikely to be transported in cargo planes or oil tankers.
The Revolutionary Guards have a vested interest in Venezuela due to its relative proximity to the United States, which allows for the placement of suicide missiles / UAVs in the territory of the South American state in order to threaten to hit American targets in the United States, especially on the southeast coast.
Picture: Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif shake hands during their meeting in Caracas, Venezuela July 20, 2019