Although Donald Trump campaigned on a platform critiquing the unrestrained use of military warfare — most notably in Iraq — he has scrapped that posture since coming to office, favoring bellicose rhetoric over diplomacy. Trump has pushed to increase the military budget and demonstrated little interest in scaling back US intervention. In recent weeks, he approved the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian general, and committed more US troops to the Middle East.

As Iran and the broader region consume Trump’s foreign policy focus, the opposition in Venezuela is making a bid to attract his attention by tying President Nicolás Maduro to Iran and Hezbollah.

A year ago, Trump believed he could easily depose Maduro’s government and bring opposition leader Juan Guaidó into the Miraflores Palace. Trump recognized Guaidó as the official president of Venezuela and colluded on several schemes to push the Venezuelan military to side with Guaidó and remove Maduro. When these efforts failed, the US government continued to sanction the Venezuelan government and threatened countries and foreign businesses that worked with Maduro’s administration.