Just as strongman Nicolas Maduro was being toppled by a U.S. strike in Venezuela, that country’s best-known opposition figure proclaimed solidarity with protesters in Iran and strongly backed their own efforts to overthrow the dictatorship in their country.
In a just-released film on X, Maria Machado, Venezuelan politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner, declared that "we know that Venezuelan and Iranian regimes collaborate closely with each other. They have become a real threat to our hemisphere. The increasing military presence and the exchange of dangerous technologies are more evident than at any other moment and have put us all at risk."
"That is why they must be defeated," said Machado, who has endorsed the U.S.-backed operation that took out Maduro Saturday morning,
"The regimes in Caracas and Tehran understand we will no longer tolerate dictators," Machado added.
Clearly referring to the growing demonstrations against the Ayatollah Khamenei’s regime in Iran, Machado said that "nothing can stop a people who have already chosen to be free. That is why those of us who share a common cause of freedom must also unite."
She emphasized that "just as evil joins forces to sustain themselves [sic], those of us on the side of justice and freedom must organize and coordinate even better.
"Our duty, therefore, is to dismantle the structure that holds power in Venezuela. This structure is a minority rejected by an overwhelming number of Venezuelans, and finally even within the regime the growing fractures are becoming evident."
As for the toppling of Maduro and the now-hoped-for dismantling of his regime, the Venezuelan said she is "convinced the liberation of Venezuela will have global repercussions and will serve as a catalyst for other societies like the brave people of Iran. Ours is a shared task.
"We will prevail. Venezuela will be free. Iran will be free."
Machado’s message to Iran came on the seventh day of mounting protests against the regime in which an estimated ten people have so far been killed.
Published reports Saturday said that the Ayatollah Khamenei emerged from hiding to declare that "rioters must be put in their place" — a sign that the regime will soon begin a brutal response to the uprising that shows no sign of ending soon.
Machado thanked National Union for Democracy in Iran and especially Prince Reza Pahlavi (son of the late Shah of Iran), with whom she participated in a Free Iran Conference in 2025.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.