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.
