Trump ‘reaping bitter fruit’ of thinking Iran intervention as easy as Venezuela, says former diplomat

<p>John Feeley says US president was ‘flush with victory’ of Maduro capture and could make same mistake in Cuba</p><p>Donald Trump is “reaping the bitter fruit” of erroneously thinking that the capture of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, offered a blueprint for toppling the Iranian regime, according to one of the US state department’s most respected former Latin America experts.</p><p>John Feeley, a Marine helicopter pilot who later served as the US ambassador to Panama, believed Trump had been “flush with the victory from Venezuela” when he made the ill-fated decision to attack Iran in February, leaving a trail of destruction across the Middle East and dealing a hammer blow to the global economy.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/10/trump-iran-intervention-easy-as-venezuela-maduro-capture-john-feeley">Continue reading...</a>