President Trump said on Friday that he’s yet to make a final decision on launching a military attack on Venezuela, but President Nicolás Maduro is not waiting around while taking the US leader’s word on it.
Maduro is reportedly urgently reaching out to Russia, China, and Iran for any possible military aid, including defense items which may have already been negotiated or are in the works. The Washington Post says it’s obtained internal documents showing such recent and high-stakes requests.
“Amid a buildup of American forces in the Caribbean, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro is reaching out to Russia, China and Iran to enhance its worn military capabilities and solicit assistance, requesting defensive radars, aircraft repairs and potentially missiles, according to internal U.S. government documents obtained by The Washington Post,” the publication reports.
“The requests to Moscow were made in the form of a letter meant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and was intended to be delivered during a visit to the Russian capital by a senior aide this month,” WaPo continues.
And separately, Maduro is said to have sent a formal letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping seeking “expanded military cooperation” between the two countries in order to counter “the escalation between the U.S. and Venezuela.”
Maduro in it seeks to expedite Chinese companies’ production of radar detection systems based on prior deals, in cooperation between Caracas and Beijing which has long been an open secret.
“In the missive, Maduro emphasized the seriousness of perceived U.S. aggression in the Caribbean, framing U.S. military action against Venezuela as action against China due to their shared ideology,” the documents state according to the Post.
Transport Minister Ramón Celestino Velásquez is also reported to have sought military equipment from the Islamic Republic of Iran. He conveyed that his country needs—
- “passive detection equipment”
- “GPS scramblers”
- “drones with 1,000 km [600 mile] range”
Meanwhile the growing list of US naval assets that Maduro is facing in the Caribbean region…
As of today, the following U.S. Navy warships are in the Caribbean:
USS Iwo Jima
USS San Antonio
USS Stockdale
USS Jason Dunham
USS Gravely
USS Lake Erie
USS Wichita
USS GettysburgThere’s also the MV Ocean Trader, a special operations vessel, and the USS Newport News, a…
— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) October 31, 2025
But the reality is that despite obvious cooperation over the years – including Russian, Chinese, and Iranian military assets and personnel showing up at the occasional Venezuela military parade or state ceremony – these countries have their own problems to worry about, and are unlikely to want to poke Donald Trump at this sensitive moment in America’s “own backyard”.
With US sanctions on, and prior examples of interdictions on the high seas, even if Russia or China wanted to quickly assist Maduro as he’s under the US bullseye it could prove logistically impossible.
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