Guatemala-Iran Foreign Relations

Economic Relationship:

In late February 2010, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began a tour of Latin American that included Guatemala, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, and Uruguay. A week before her departure Clinton announced, “I’m on my way to Latin America next week. And Iran is at the top of my agenda.”[1]

Diplomatic/Military Relationship:

In late May 2009, Israeli news website Ynet obtained a detailed dossier drafted by the Israeli Foreign Ministry on Iran’s activities in South America.[2] The report, which is based on information gathered by Israeli and foreign military and diplomatic sources around the world, claimed that Iran had begun building friendships in Latin America as early as 1982.[3] The Foreign Ministry report claimed that particularly “since Ahmadinejad’s rise to power, Tehran has been promoting an aggressive policy aimed at bolstering its ties with Latin American countries with the declared goal of ‘bringing America to its knees.’”[4] The report suggests that pro-American countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic, which receive aid from Venezuela may also be subject to Iranian influence as a result of Venezuela and Iran’s common anti-‘American Imperialist’ agendas.[5]