By Noureddine Omar | 2025-09-15

The Iranian regime’s control over drone facilities in Venezuela underscores the urgent need to confront Tehran’s regional schemes by all available means, experts said.

By operating beyond its borders, Iran is able to transfer drone technologies to a range of countries as well as to proxies of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), posing a significant threat to the security and stability of the Middle East.

The advanced drone technologies developed in Venezuela could easily be supplied to groups such as Hizbullah and Houthis, experts warned.

"Recent events in the region have shown that these proxies use such technologies to prolong tensions and block peace agreements, as peace would end IRGC plans and those of its proxies," political analyst Abdul Nabi Bakkar told Al-Fassel.

"The disputes between Western countries and the United States, on the one hand, and Iran on the other, are largely due to Iran’s support of IRGC-affiliated proxies in the Middle East, whether by funding or supplying them with military technologies, particularly drones," he said.

"These drones are used for various military purposes, including surveillance, espionage, and deployment of bombs and explosives, making them a definite threat to regional governments, security and stability, and a direct threat to civilians," he added.

The Iranian regime's insistence on finding external resources, such as controlling drone factories in Venezuela, "underscores the necessity of dismantling its foreign agendas," he said

"This poses a major threat to the countries of the Middle East at a time when tremendous efforts are being made to establish security in this region, as well as in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf," Bakkar said.

Hizbullah in Venezuala

The IRGC maintains a strong presence in Venezuela, driven both by Tehran’s interest in the region and by its use of the extensive network Hizbullah has developed there since its founding, former Hizbullah member Salah Mansour told al-Fassel.

"This network was built by using Lebanese Shia immigrants, most of who obtained Venezuelan citizenship and secured key positions in the country’s economic, political, and military institutions, paving the way for the later infiltration by IRGC," he said.

"Hizbullah network enables IRGC to transfer any number of drones manufactured in Venezuela, not only to neighboring countries but also beyond, all the way to the Middle East where some of the IRGC-affiliated proxies are still present, particularly in Lebanon and Yemen," he added.

"This is particularly the case since Hizbullah, for example, still poses a threat to any peace plans due to its refusal to give up its weapons, especially its missile and drone systems," Mansour said.