2026-01-03

In the early hours of Saturday, January 3, 2026, U.S. imperialist military forces launched widespread attacks on military facilities, airports, and communications infrastructure in several Venezuelan cities. Released images show the arrest of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, while two agents from the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration escort them. These images aim to create the illusion that the U.S. government, continuing its aggressive policies of the past week under the so called banner of “fighting drug trafficking,” has now arrested Maduro and his wife as well.

The Venezuelan government issued a statement strongly condemning the “U.S. military aggression” against Venezuelan territory and declared that the attack represents a “clear violation of the United Nations Charter.” It warned that this military operation threatens peace and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean. This fact shows that U.S. imperialism seeks to shape new war conditions in the region, with potentially wide ranging regional and global consequences.

Venezuela, which holds one of the world’s largest oil reserves, has for years stood at the center of the United States’ interventionist and aggressive policies. Efforts to gain direct or indirect control over these strategic resources have consistently driven the economic, political, and military pressure of U.S. imperialism against the country. That pressure has now escalated into open war and military aggression. What unfolds in Venezuela today follows logically from a policy pursued in recent years through crippling sanctions, financial blockade, constant threats, and acts of sabotage. Now, as structural crises deepen across global capitalism and the United States’ hegemonic position weakens, war and military intervention once again serve as the main tools to impose imperialist will.

Open statements by US officials about targeting Venezuela’s oil reserves reveal the true nature of this attack. This war does not seek to defend freedom or human rights. It seeks to secure the interests of major oil capital and preserve control over the global energy market. Historical experience shows that such interventions always bring economic destruction, social collapse, and the spread of poverty among the masses. ALso the silence or complicity of major powers and international institutions in the face of this aggression once again exposes the real character of the existing global order, an order in which the rights of nations and human lives count for nothing when weighed against the interests of capital and the imperialist war machine.

The International Relations Office of the Communist Party of Iran unequivocally condemns the open military aggression of the United States against Venezuela as an organized crime against the people of that country and a clear example of the aggressive policies of global monopoly capitalism. Air strikes on Caracas, attacks on military bases, and the targeting of vital economic infrastructure, especially oil refineries, clearly signal the simultaneous launch of ground and air operations. These actions show that imperialism has entered a more dangerous phase of direct intervention, one that will bring far reaching human and social consequences.

At the same time, the International Committee of the Communist Party of Iran stresses that its firm condemnation of this military aggression in no way ignores the policies, conduct, or direction of the government of Nicolás Maduro, or the nature and structure of power in Venezuela. A deep economic crisis, entrenched corruption within the ruling bureaucracy, restrictions on the role of popular institutions, and the weakening of independent working class organization in Venezuela remain realities that workers organizations inside the country and socialist organizations and currents at the international level have consistently protested. Even so, the nature of the governing structure, the policies of the Maduro government, and its inefficiency and inability to control internal crises do not justify foreign military aggression or the killing of civilians. The primary victims of such wars always include workers, laborers, and oppressed social groups. These same forces suffer the greatest harm from sanctions, war, and instability while holding the least influence over major decisions of power.

The International Relations Office of the Communist Party of Iran declares its solidarity with the people of Venezuela, especially the working class and the progressive forces of that country. Defending Venezuela at this moment means defending the right of nations to determine their own destiny and opposing war-mongering as a permanent instrument for the survival of the global capitalist system.

We call on all communist parties, labor organizations, and revolutionary and radical movements around the world to mobilize through clear condemnation of this aggression, to demand the immediate halt of military operations, the withdrawal of invading forces, and an end to the imperialist policies of the United States. Only through international solidarity and conscious, collective struggle can resistance to war, plunder, and domination take shape.

International Relations Office of the Communist Party of Iran
January 3, 2026