TEHRAN – An American professor of international affairs warns that the world is sliding into a “veritable jungle” as U.S. President Donald Trump openly threatens to strike deep inside Venezuela, alleging the Latin American nation is engaged in narco-trafficking.

In an interview with the Tehran Times, Professor Hossein Askari says Trump’s “threats against Venezuela are based on lies and hypocrisy” that are primarily intended to deflect attention from his troubles at home, notably the Epstein case.

The US has been building up a force of warships, fighter jets, bombers, marines, drones and spy planes in the Caribbean Sea. It is the largest deployment there for decades. According to the BBC, long-range bomber planes, B-52s, have carried out "bomber attack demonstrations" off the coast of Venezuela. The US says it has killed dozens of people in strikes on small vessels from Venezuela which it claims carry "narcotics" and "narco-terrorists", without providing evidence or details about those on board.

Askari, the former instructor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), firmly believes that the Trump administration’s behavior toward Venezuela is “absolutely” reckless, lamenting that “the US has been threatening the rule of law at the international level.”

This is the text of the interview:

Statements by American officials openly indicate that the Pentagon’s attack on Venezuela is imminent under the allegation that Maduro’s government is an accomplice in the drugs trafficked into the United States. Isn’t the Trump administration pushing the fragile world order toward more anarchism, especially as Maduro’s involvement in drug trafficking has not been proven?

 These threats against Maduro and Venezuela are a farce. As you indicate, there is no proof of narco-trafficking. Moreover, US data shows that over 90 percent of the drugs coming into the US come from the Pacific, not the Atlantic. Also, Trump just pardoned the former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was tried and convicted for drug trafficking and given a life sentence. Hernandez was even an accomplice of the notorious “El Chapo.” Yet, he was pardoned! This pardon was lunacy and it undermines any reference to trafficking on the part of others. The threats against Venezuela are based on lies and hypocrisy. 

“The threats against Maduro and Venezuela are a farce”

So far, the U.S. has gone to the extreme by targeting Venezuelan boats in the Caribbean and telling Maduro to leave the country. Do these behaviors and statements show that Trump wants to revive the Monroe Doctrine in South America?

A: As you know, the Monroe Doctrine warned Europeans to stay out of the affairs of Latin America while the US pledged to stay out of European affairs. Today, the world is very different. The US wants to have preferred access to the globe, not just to Latin America, as it warns others not to interfere with its interests. This is much more global than the Monroe Doctrine, but it will not last or succeed. Sadly, America is making more and more enemies.

In general, don’t you see these behaviors as reckless and dangerous?

Absolutely. The US has been threatening the rule of law at the international level. This is just the latest episode. Take a look at its behavior at the UNSC. It has vetoed ceasefires in Gaza. It has sanctioned international judges who rule against its allies and their leaders, namely Netanyahu at the ICC. It takes punishing policies against South Africa for referring Israel to the ICJ. It goes on and on. The international system, adopted after WWII, is on life support. On top of all this, President Trump is treating immigrants as scum and calls them “garbage” to be thrown out of the US. America is losing the world, a world that admired its policies after WWII. I am very pessimistic.

What sense do these ultimatums to Venezuela send to the world?

A: The international safeguards are crumbling. You cannot rely on the United Nations or on the West to defend the weak and victims. The world will become a veritable jungle unless something is done soon to redirect the ship.

Some argue that Trump’s political, economic and military pressure on Venezuela is intended to gain control over Venezuela’s oil riches given the U.S. president’s great love for oil and his disdain of renewable energy. What is your opinion?

“The international system, adopted after WWII, is on life support”

Oil is a part of it but not the whole story. Trump has problems at home. He is caught up in the Epstein affair. His tariff policies are unpopular. His promise to make everything more affordable for Americans has failed as more people are living from paycheck to paycheck. Even his full-throated support for Isreal is becoming more and more unpopular as Americans suffer while America donates money to Israel, a country with a per capita income comparable to that of France. So all of this is a diversion from his own problems at home. But if he can boast about gaining access to Venezuela’s oil, he might argue that the US has become richer and could become more popular. It is a long shot. Also remember that although Venezuela has the largest oil deposits in the world, its crude is a very heavy oil with high sulfur content and thus much more expensive to extract and refine.

Is Trump sending a message to leftist governments in the American continent by sending the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald. R. Ford in the waters off Venezuela?

A: Yes, Trump always threatens in order to get an adversary’s submission. It has worked in the US, so he is going international with the same. And he is even threatening to bomb countries, as he did to Iran.” 

If as Trump and some Republicans claim the U.S. wants to bring democracy to Venezuela, there are despotic rulers in the world that Trump has friendly ties with. If this claim is true how can these controversies be reconciled?

A: You must be kidding. Trump is not interested in democracy. He is destroying it in the US and he would much rather deal with a friendly foreign dictator who would do his bidding than try to negotiate with a “messy” democratic parliament and government.