Venezuela summoned Iran's ambassador on July 28 to deliver a formal protest over remarks by Tehran officials, in a rare public rupture between two countries that had been staunch anti-Western allies for more than two decades, with Caracas one of Tehran's closest partners in Latin America.

The foreign ministry said in a statement that the envoy was called in to receive a note of protest over "contemptuous and inappropriate" comments made about "Venezuela's institutions and authorities," without specifying which remarks had prompted the move.

In a post on X, the ministry demanded "the cessation of all allusions or comparisons that undermine the dignity, sovereignty, institutionality or good name" of Venezuela. It added that relations between the two states should be grounded in "reciprocal respect, sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs and the other principles of International Law that have historically guided relations" between them.

Footage circulating online captured the remarks that prompted the protest, according to AFP. In the interview, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran would not "bow down" in the face of US attacks and threats, contrasting the Islamic Republic's position with Venezuela, where he said "everyone backed down" after Maduro was "kidnapped."

The rebuke marks a striking turn in a relationship dating to 1999, when then-president Hugo Chávez took office and built close ties with Tehran around shared opposition to Washington and sustained advocacy for the Palestinian cause. The two governments went on to sign agreements covering petrochemicals, defence, mining, health and education, the contents of which were never disclosed. As recently as last year, Iran supplied Venezuela with 1.5mn barrels of petrol to ease domestic shortages, and Venezuela's first Iranian-run supermarket, itself under US sanctions, opened in Caracas.

Security concerns over Tehran's footprint in Venezuela have long circulated in Washington. More than 10,000 Iranian, Syrian and Lebanese nationals, some of whom allegedly members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, received official Venezuelan passports between 2010 and 2019, a matter that has previously raised concerns among US counterterrorism officials, according to reports cited by Iran International.

The diplomatic spat follows a major political shift in Caracas since a US military operation in January captured then-president Nicolás Maduro. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez's interim government has since entered US-supervised talks with the opposition and spearheaded reforms opening up the country’s oil and mineral riches to US investors, while also fully restoring relations with Washington that had been severed since 2019. President Donald Trump has rewarded the sea change with repeated praise, calling Rodríguez a "terrific person" who is "doing a great job."

The recalibration has been visible before. After the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran in early March, Foreign Minister Yván Gil deleted a statement condemning a strike on Iran within minutes of the confirmed death of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. The original post had said Venezuela "condemns and deeply regrets" the use of force against the Islamic Republic; officials at the time said the Trump administration had urged Rodríguez to publicly renege on Caracas’ alliance with Tehran. The interim leader subsequently extended her solidarity to the US-aligned Gulf states hit by retaliatory Iranian strikes, such as the UAE and Qatar, without any mention of Iran.

Caracas's recent exit from the International Criminal Court, which had been investigating alleged crimes against humanity under Maduro's government, was set in motion by the National Assembly in December 2025, before Maduro's ouster. Crucially, however, it was completed by Rodríguez's government, which is now operating under de facto US tutelage.

The withdrawal was welcomed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who cast it as part of "American-led efforts to dismantle the corrupt and worthless ICC." The Trump administration has long dismissed the tribunal as illegitimate, citing among other grievances its indictment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over war crimes committed in Gaza by the Israeli Defense Forces. Rubio said the court had spent years "investigating" Maduro without result while pursuing nationals of countries with independent judiciaries that had never accepted its jurisdiction, calling this "blatant overreach, political bias and selective enforcement." He said Maduro was now "facing justice" in a US court following his capture, and called on other ICC members to pull out of the Rome Statute.

Venezuela's geopolitical pivot extends to Israel, with which Caracas cut relations in 2009 under Chávez. An Israeli government delegation arrived in the country following the devastating earthquakes of June 24, the first such deployment in nearly two decades, to help assess damage and assist reconstruction in La Guaira. Netanyahu said Israeli specialists were "rebuilding ruins and also rebuilding relationships," linking the mission to the prospect of a wider diplomatic thaw.

The rapprochement with Tel Aviv could be the prelude to a full resumption of diplomatic relations, marking a symbolic break from the "Axis of Resistance," a bloc Maduro himself said Venezuela belonged to in 2022, when he positioned Caracas alongside Tehran in a global front against "colonialism" and US and Israeli influence.