WASHINGTON – Iran is trying to gain a foothold in Venezuela due to the fact that this South American Republic has large reserves of uranium. This opinion was expressed by the assistant to the President for national security John Bolton, speaking on Tuesday in Washington at a forum organized by the Wall Street Journal.

“Venezuela has the largest uranium reserves in the world, perhaps the second largest after Canada, depending on estimates. It makes the country be the main goal for Iran, which operates in Venezuela today,” the adviser to the head of the US administration said.

At the same time, he also accused Russia and China in taking advantage of the crisis in the economy and political life of Venezuela for profit. “Russia and China are holders of huge Venezuela’s debts. As the country experienced an economic collapse, Russia and China took advantage of it. There are Russian paramilitary forces in Venezuela. And the amount of

debts give them [Russia and China] an extremely powerful lever of influence,” Bolton said.