The spectacular American military operation that removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power earlier this year has inevitably inspired comparisons among strategists searching for solutions to the Iran crisis.
When Maduro was captured during a dramatic U.S. raid on January 3, 2026, it was widely seen as a striking demonstration of American resolve under President Donald J. Trump. Maduro’s removal loosened the Venezuelan dictatorship’s grip on power and triggered a rapid political recalibration in Caracas. Washington quickly secured commitments on oil production, financial transparency, and the partial restructuring of Venezuela’s state energy giant PDVSA. Oil production, which had collapsed from roughly 3.2 million barrels per day in 1998 to around 800,000 by late 2025 after decades of corruption and mismanagement, began a gradual recovery as U.S. energy companies moved to revive extraction in the Orinoco Belt, home to some of the world’s largest heavy-crude reserves.
