During a November 21, 2025 interview by Lara Logan on her Going Rogue podcast, ex-CIA Station Chief Gary Berntsen noted that the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was invited by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to watch the results of the 2020 General Election in the United States.
There is clear and well-documented evidence that Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Caracas, Venezuela, on November 4–5, 2020. Venezuelan officials described it as a high-level visit to deepen “strategic relations of bilateral cooperation.”
- Met Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (who publicly hailed the visit and called it a ratification of “unshakeable” strategic ties).
- Met Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza (they walked together and held talks; photos from the meeting exist).
- Met Vice President Delcy Rodríguez.
Public statements tied to the election: On November 5 in Caracas, Zarif told a forum that the U.S. “no longer controls the world” and that “Western hegemony had ended,” directly referencing the recent U.S. election while praising Maduro’s resistance to U.S. pressure.
This was not a secret trip — it was publicly announced, photographed, and widely reported in real time. Both governments celebrated it as a show of solidarity against U.S. sanctions. No credible sources dispute that it happened.