Israel Hayom
Nov 7, 2025
Israel's Ambassador to Mexico Einat Kranz-Neiger
Iran has long maintained an "open account" with Israel. As part of its
effort to "settle the score," it targets Israeli and Jewish interests
worldwide, even when those targets have no direct connection to its
military losses. For Tehran, such attacks are a way to "balance the
equation," a modus operandi adopted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps for decades. The assassination attempt on Israel's ambassador in
Mexico is simply the latest chapter in this ongoing campaign of revenge.
In the past year, and especially following the Gaza War, these efforts
have accelerated. Iranian and Hezbollah terrorist cells have been
exposed across the globe—from Greece and the Nordic countries to Germany
and Australia—aiming to attack Israelis and Jews.
Latin America, which suffered
devastating bombings in Buenos Aires in the 1990s, has once again become
a target for attacks on Israelis and Jews. In the past year, Iranian
and Hezbollah networks were uncovered in Peru and Brazil, including a
plot to assassinate Israel's ambassador in Brasília.
It remains unclear how Iran
attempted to carry out the attack in Mexico, but past experience
suggests it likely relied on proxies—probably local criminals—to obscure
its direct involvement. Ironically, that very method may have
contributed to exposing the plot.
Why Latin America?
Beyond the region's relative ease
of operation, where local security forces are preoccupied with drugs and
immigration, Latin America offers Iran favorable conditions through its
sizable Shiite communities in Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia.
Venezuela, under the ideologically aligned regime of Nicolás Maduro,
serves as Iran's operational hub on the continent and as a logistical
backbone for its activities.
The past year, however, has been
particularly challenging for Iran's influence in the region. Tehran
traditionally cultivates ties with leftist governments opposed to US
influence—such as Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Chile, Colombia, and
Brazil. Despite ideological differences, Iran eagerly cooperates with
anyone willing to counter Washington. Yet recent political shifts, such
as the right-wing victory in Bolivia, a country once very close to Iran,
have weakened Tehran's foothold. A potential military confrontation
between the US and Venezuela could also bring an end to Iran's strategic
"base" on the Caribbean coast.
The Trump administration's campaign
against the Maduro regime has further compounded Tehran's difficulties.
Maduro remains Iran's most important ally in the region, and without
him, Tehran would lose its ability to threaten the US in its own
backyard.
The attempted assassination in
Mexico only proves Iran's global reach and determination to use the
continent as a platform for terrorist operations. Israel should leverage
this exposure into a diplomatic campaign to alert Latin American
nations, and the international community at large, to the danger posed
by Iran. Despite this latest revelation, as long as Iran's "open
account" with Israel remains unsettled, another attempt is only a matter
of time.
Moreover,
the case illustrates the urgent need to dismantle Iran's enabling
infrastructure in Latin America: its Spanish-language propaganda channel
HispanTV; its influence over the appointment of imams in Shiite
communities; and academic institutions such as Al-Mustafa International
University, which serve as tools of indoctrination. The so-called
religious centers attached to Iranian embassies are in fact hubs of
espionage and terror. A concerted effort to confront this "soft power,"
combined with political change in the region and the eventual fall of
the Maduro regime, could deliver a serious blow to Iran's presence in
Latin America.
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