Il conflitto in Medio Oriente visto dall’America Latina

Translated by Federica Conti

Tehran is approximately 12,000 km from Brasilia, 13,000 km from Mexico City and 14,000 km from Buenos Aires, therefore it is natural that the geographical distance implies significant cultural, ethnic and social differences between these two regions. Despite this, recent events in the Middle East have highlighted how much globalisation has contributed to connecting two such distant geographical areas, especially in economic and political terms.

The convergence between Iran and Latin American Countries has developed relatively recently. The Shiite Republic has gradually built its diplomatic network in the region over the last 20 to 30 years, establishing bilateral agreements focused on energy, defence and anti-US orientation. This has allowed Tehran to join China and Russia as a political alternative in the context of the diplomatic vacuum left by Washington following its regional disengagement.

The main Latin American actors were and are the regimes of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, all united by the political leanings of their leaders. But in addition to these, Iran has also been able to establish cordial relations with several countries belonging to the Pink Tide movement at the beginning of the millennium. Significant relations were established with Lula's first presidency in Brazil and the Kirchner era in Argentina. In this context, Iran, isolated from the US and Europe, sought to exploit Brazil's strong foreign policy activism in order to establish an alternative diplomatic scenario to that of the West. The current political landscape in Latin America has changed significantly. The Pink Tide, which at the beginning of the century almost uniformly united the political wills of various governments, has now given way to a regional framework characterised by strong polarisation. Many medium-sized players, such as Uruguay and Chile, have gone from having cordial relations in a relatively stable international context to being wary of or seeking to avoid contact with a potentially controversial partner such as Iran.

But in a context of war such as the one we have unfortunately been witnessing in recent days in the Middle East, how have Latin American Countries reacted? We can identify three distinct political positions on the conflict: the first is that of Iran's regional allies, who have swiftly condemned the Israeli-American intervention, including long-standing partners such as Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. Secondly, there are those who can safely be described as aligned with the White House, namely El Salvador, Argentina and, to a lesser extent, Paraguay and Ecuador. These countries are characterised by a strongly pro-US foreign policy and, in the case of Buenos Aires, a pro-Israeli stance. Last but definitely most interesting are those who have taken more pragmatic and moderate but still critical positions on the conflict. Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, despite expressing negative views on the actions taken by Washington and Tel Aviv, have expressed a desire for de-escalation in the Middle East, in favour of a restoration of diplomatic relations between the two parties.

We can conclude that the political fragmentation of the continent has prevented the various Latin American governments from presenting a unified response to the issue, with each responding according to its own geostrategic interests. The positions of the Lula and Sheinbaum governments are particularly noteworthy, as both are important regional players that have had to calibrate their statements. Despite encountering a number of inconsistencies with the Trump presidency, the Brazilian government has adopted a particularly diplomatic line. It has expressed its concern about the preventive intervention in Iran, but at the same time has denounced Iran's response, expressing solidarity with the Gulf countries affected by Tehran's retaliation. This should be interpreted as an attempt to normalise relations between Lula and Donald Trump, which should culminate in a yet-to-be-confirmed meeting in Washington on 15 March, promised during an informal meeting held in New York in September 2025. Sheinbaum, on the other hand, took a very similar stance to her Brazilian counterpart, stressing that the diplomatic route to resolving disputes is the only one acceptable to Mexico. Quoting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, she said she considered Madrid's position to be responsible for normalising relations in the region, denouncing both American interventionism and the Iranian reaction. She also clarified Mexico City's position on the Israeli-Palestinian question, indicating that the two-state solution was the only one considered fair by the Mesoamerican country.

In questa pluralità di posizioni si può osservare come ogni singolo paese stia reagendo in base ai propri interessi politici ed economici, seguendo linee politiche distanti tra loro date da questo o quel vantaggio strategico. Il conflitto in Medio Oriente evidenzia il fatto che l’America Latina non rappresenti un blocco politico unitario nelle dinamiche internazionali. Al contempo si dimostra come un conflitto così distante possa influenzare gli equilibri regionali di aree così lontane. Restano quindi dubbi su come la regione possa rispondere ad un’escalation del conflitto e sui, probabilmente inestinti, piani di risposta dei governi latini. In this plurality of positions, it can be observed how each individual country is reacting according to its own political and economic interests, following political lines that are distant from one another due to strategic advantage. The conflict in the Middle East highlights the fact that Latin America does not represent a unified political bloc in international dynamics. Simultaneously, it demonstrates how such a distant conflict can influence the regional balance of distant areas. However, doubts remain as to how the region might respond to an escalation of the conflict and as to the Latin American governments' response plans, which are probably still in the pipeline.

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