last century over time the fight against the united states in the west may have left residents in a world where colonial dominance is more of an abstraction than a memory but in the president goes so does trouble take andras for example when i was in honduras and met with president michel lettie he was clear honduras was no longer will no longer side with acme d leadership and chavez's influence elia was moving hundred close to iran ally and chavez together with their friend occidental job creating conditions that had allowed anti semitism to foster mr chairman the shocking comments of the lie of supporters are unacceptable using the jewish community as scapegoats is something we have seen in venezuela first we have chavez elia claiming that israelis were behind  wave of anti semitism cannot be tolerated of course in venezuela this is nothing new we all have heard the reports synagogues being attacked and state companies printing anti semitic propaganda i actually want to commend some of our witnesses today for speaking out against anti semitism in venezuela the a j c showed true leadership when it spoke out against just as the a we in congress must make sure the world knows what is happening in the jewish community in venezuela i urge my colleagues to join my resolution conrads one twenty four and express support for the jewish community in venezuela mr chairman when it comes to iran in the western hemisphere venezuela is where all the dots connect many of us already know how close job as is to iraq medan a job bond has created dangerous conditions in our hemisphere hezbollah operating in latin america flights from tehran to caracas and no checks whatsoever iranian banks operating with venezuelan banks a bank link that has one sole purpose to avoid sanctions and fund terrorists now we have reports of a scientist selling nuclear information to venezuela just a few weeks ago chavez knocked me down a job met to strengthen their relationship at the top of the agenda was how to get uranium and how to help iran of a sanctions mr chairman i was a critic i was a vocal critic of the bush administration and their hands off approach of hugo  believe that by failing to confront chavez we have left a vacuum the obama administration must take the dangers of hugo chavez seriously we must confront chavez a knock me down a job and not wait until it's too late today in a bipartisan manner i introduced a resolution with my good friend congressman kline just that calls on the administration to designate venezuela as a state sponsor of terrorism venezuela is a danger that cannot be overlooked mr chairman i would like to conclude with brazil reports tell us that acme damage and the president of brazil are set to hold a summit this november in brazil additionally my understanding is that lula intends to visit iran next year as many of us know brazil was the first country to recognize the most recent elections in iran election elections which i believe were neither fair or free brazil is clearly a leader in this hemisphere that said along with leadership comes responsibility brazil should not be following venezuela instead it should be leading this meeting between lula and knock me down a job is one that will be we will be paying close attention to i call upon president lula to put pressure on iraq within a job so that iran understands that all responsible nations stand together i urge president president l not to take the same path as job as mr chairman i look forward to the hearing today and thank you for holding thank you for your opening statement representative whine about your shout out chairman and bolivia adding to the embassies already had in cuba argentina brazil mexico in venezuela this hearing is an opportunity to examine our ongoing efforts to counter this influence and to isolate those who support iran has used its petro dollar windfall or at least the illusion that it may be willing to actually spend its petro dollars windfall to influence latin american nations including the governments oblivion ecuador nicaragua for example iran opened an embassy in the pause in february two thousand and eight and pledged and i want to just underline the word pledged more than a billion dollars in assistance to bolivia in turn president morales announced his country's intention to move its only middle east embassy from cairo to terror in and bolivia lit lifted restrictions on iranian citizens in september two thousand and eight duran in ecuador signed an energy operation agreement  fifty million dollars for a deep water port and to build ten thousand houses in there although iran has yet to fulfill these promises nicaraguan officials remove duran from the list of countries whose citizens must get visas in advance i want to point out that there is no visible support among the iranian people for any expenditure of funds of a struggling country in foreign aid to a different hemisphere namely the western hemisphere most of of great concern is the relationship between iran and venezuela which has been central to iran's rising influence in latin america president chavez and it within a job have collaborated on numerous cooperative ventures worth billions in two thousand and seven chavez and but it a jot announced a joint one billion dollar investment fund would be set up by the two countries and would be used to finance projects in federal friendly developed countries chavez boasted it will permit us to underpin investments above all in countries whose governments are making efforts to liberate themselves from the so called imperialist yo e later in two thousand and eight an article in the italian periodical last papa reported that iran has been using venezuelan owned commercial aircraft to transport computers and engine components to syria for syria's missile program in turn the iran's revolutionary guard corps including its a leader out because unit has trained the venezuelan police and secret service that april of this year ran in venezuela signed a memorandum of understanding on military cooperation comprised of training and mutual exchange of military experiences the us has responded to some degree in october two thousand and eight the us treasury office of foreign assets control designated the representative ross layton requested that the departments of state and treasury investigate citgo to determine whether a two thousand and seven petro chemical sector agreement between the governments of venezuela and iran benefits  american subsidiary which would be a violation of the iran sanctions act i hope that we focus on the public diplomacy in latin america we need to remind our friends in latin america that the united states has provided trillions in trade billions in aid whereas iran promises but aside from making investments that are it's in its own interest does almost nothing we have to remind the people of latin america that  iran may be involved in that continent in that area and region now but may not be a year or two from now and in fact is a pointed out or rand's involvement in latin america has no visible support among the iranian people in contrast america isn't going anywhere we will be involved in latin america for centuries to come i see that my time has expired i will use other time to comment about hezbollah's involvement fact that we're holding this hearing we had several hearings mr sherman and myself a few years ago when i chaired the terrorism subcommittee on global research was one of the hearings that we held and that focused on the terrorism in our own hemisphere the significant presence we have those of us from california know only too well about the case for example of mahmoud karate who was trained by iranian  intelligence terrorists who made his way over the california border and in the trunk of a car subsequently was detained and convicted here in the united states but but during these hearings i think a great deal of information was focused on the venezuelan connection to this and during the hearing on venice a whale a terrorism hub of south america this subcommittee heard from the state department that said at that time forgers alter venezuelan passports with child like and most worrisome they said venezuelan government officials direct the issuance of documents to eligible individuals to advance political and foreign polic agenda now given growing iran venezuela ties i think that's a great concern one witness who is with us today will characterize iran's relationship with and groups in our in our own hemisphere as direct and growing and it's a threat my colleagues have mentioned specific concerns to venezuelan companies sanction for connection to iran's proliferation activities large passenger planes conducting weekly flight between caracas and the capital of iran and yet there's no tourism between these two countries who go chavez signing a number of energy agreements on a visit to tehran this year's growing threat assessment by the director of national intelligence noted that chavez's growing ties to iran coupled with venezuela's lack financial laws and lax border controls and widespread corruption have created a permissive environment for hezbollah to exploit with iran being a middle eastern country this connection i think may seem odd but i think history is full of  rogue conspiring together during my years on the on this committee i've been surprised certainly to find some of this history in the one nine hundred eighty s north korea went into zimbabwe trained the fifth korea also worked more recently covertly to assist syria in building a nuclear reactor the ira of all organizations develop connections with the p l o in the middle east and with fark in latin america so it's nothing new to have these types of connections from terrorist outfits but we better keep our eyes on our hemisphere and it might be harder and harder to do that because the wall street journal reported last month that interviews with diplomatic officials suggest that western intelligence in this region is very very limited that must change we have to do a better job of collecting this intelligence we don't want to find many more mahmoud garani after the fact after they're in our country and after they're arrested with a terrorist cell on our own soil one strategy we alternative to that kind of agenda and that means moving forward with free trade agreements for colombia and panama but they are languishing and that is too bad are working together on iran in the western hemisphere and the jurisdiction touches on all three subcommittees it's obviously a very important subject and obviously the turnout today there are a lot of people here who are interested in doing this so i'm pleased to belatedly welcome everyone to today's hearing on iran the western hemisphere the question i seek to explore in this hearing is whether rand's expanding presence in the western hemisphere is a threat to our region or m nuisance is it only about expanded trade or is there something more nefarious going on i believe it's both many poor countries in latin america and the caribbean actually seek financing from oil rich iran for development projects every day it seems i hear about another country expanding diplomatic relations with iran or seeking greater economic contacts in fact trade investment deals between iran and latin and latin america now total well over twenty billion dollars but as iran's president expanded presence in the western hemisphere nothing more than an effort to earn some hard currency i doubted strongly first and foremost we must never forget the one nine two bombing of the israeli embassy in buenos aires that killed thirty people in the one thousand nine hundred four bombing of the army a building in buenos aires that killed eighty five people while the perpetrators have not yet been brought to justice the state prosecutor of argentina concluded that the bombings were executed by hezbollah which is supported by syria and sponsored by iran november two thousand and six and argentinian judge issued arrest warrants in the army a case of nine persons including ahmad vahidi who recently became iran's defense minister absolutely disgraceful i would like to commend the government of argentina condemning iran selection of the haiti as quote an insult to argentinian just unquote and i add my voice to president cristina fernandez they have argentina who in her recent speech to the u n general assembly monday demanded justice on behalf of the victims of the bombings so the iranian role in the region is anything but well meaning and this brings me to venezuela when president obama went to the summit of the americas he shook hands with venezuelan president chavez and our countr have now restore their ambassadors unfortunately there are a few other positive things to report president chavez recently traveled to iran and syria leading sponsors of terror in the middle east iran and syria being the leading sponsors of terrorism in the middle east and alleged from damascus that israel had committed genocide against the palestinians this was a violent attack on israel and i immediately issued a statement condemning these offensive and observe remarks i thought it was a bit strange that he would say was from damascus which is the headquarters of both hezbollah and hamas it's just amazing however venezuela's relationship with iran is more than just an outlet for chavez's excessive rhetoric the director of national intelligence dennis blair recently said the venezuela quote is serving as a bridge to help iran build relations with other latin american countries unquote the rationale underlying the venezuelan iranian connection is apparent both leaders will go chavez and ahmadinejad are not friends of the united states and take any opportunity to denounce this country but concerns about the iran venezuela axis run much deeper than harsh rhetoric and expanded diplomatic cover a recent op ed in the wall street journal by manhattan district attorney robert morgenthau re serious concerns about the expanded financial ties and human to countries he said quote failure to act will leave open a window susceptible to money laundering by the iranian government narcotics organizations with ties to corrupt elements in the venezuelan government and the terrorist organizations that iran supports openly unquote passengers and cargo and not subject to proper security checks in the wake of nine eleven for a country to have loose security procedures on international affairs flights with iran is simply reckless if not downright dangerous and i am very troubled with agreements signed during president will go chavez visit to tehran last month according to press reports venezuela would invest a ten percent stake in iran southpaws gas projects valued at some seven hundred sixty million dollars and provide twenty thousand barrels per day if we find gasoline to iran while it is anyone's guess as to whether these schemes will ever be implemented they carry potentially serious rep or cautions according to the the bill being marked up in the foreign affairs committee tomorrow becomes law providing refined petroleum to iran may also trigger sanctions while some question whether then as well as the ability to provide gasoline to iran since it imports gasoline to meet its own domestic demand president chavez is clearly approaching a perilous era iranian involvement with latin america also has a transnational element in two thousand and seven while in brazil asians smuggling to finance their bases in lebanon and elsewhere the united states is working with the governments of the bordering countries in the three plus one arrangement where we are trying to halt the smuggling and the possibility of terra financing have no information about any active an operative telesales in the region but we must continue our vigilant monitoring while i appreciate brazilian cooperation in the tri border region and other issues i am concerned about president l is my understanding of this visit will take place in november when venezuela expands its relations with iran i may not like it but i chalk it up to president chavez and his altered sense of the world but when brazil expands its ties to iran just as the world is trying to deal with the secretive iranian nuclear program i'm frankly left the wilderness brazil is a rapidly modernizing country which wants to join the u n security council and be a world leader i  ill reaches that point but expanding ties to ahmadinejad who denies the holocaust and calls for the destruction of another nation state israel is not the way to get there in the future i think we have to expand our dialogue with brazil a dangerous world iran and encourage our friends in brasilia to reconsider their ties with iran so in the end i'm left with two questions one what do latin american countries hope to get out of their relationship with iran and to what in the united states do about it as for the first question some seek money and investment but we must remember with investment comes influence and i have serious concerns about expanded iranian influence in the region as for the second question we must increase our diplomatic engagement to better explain our views i've long been concerned that during the previous administration we did not pay enough attention to latin america and the caribbean and this was at our own peril so who came to fill the gra nd gap iran i think the obama administration is today effectively reengaging in latin america and hopefully we'll be able to describe our approach in a way that the region will more readily here but in some ways we've tried our own hands we brazil i hope that senator de mint rethink his position and lift that holds so we can more effectively engage our partners on the dangers of iran and on the myriad of issues which confront the hemisphere thank you and with that i would will take a pass so we can move on here the test one of the witnesses  with some of the threats from venezuela and the relationships that seem to be developing with the president but obviously we're all very concerned about the issues that have been developing in this region and particularly with planning on being in the region visiting brazil venezuela having pledged oil and refined petroleum to iran the district attorney of new york stating that there are certain banking relationships that obviously have to be examined we need to obviously develop a comprehensive policy at the same time the united states continues to buy a significant amounts of oil from venezuela so i think with there needs to be some reconciliation but i think what our panel can do for us today us your perspective so we can understand how to best approach i think german thank you well put mr klein and i'm now pleased to introduce our distinguished private witnesses eric farnsworth is vice president of the council of the americas is no stranger to my subcommittee having testified given excellent testimony many times previously by dina segal van is director of the latino and latin american institute of the american jewish committee which does great work and i rely on a lot douglas farah is senior fellow for financial investigations and transparency at the international assessment and strategic center welcome mohan metal i'm sorry most helpful if you could summarize your testimony and we could enter your actual statements into the record in addition to your testimony chairman and thank you for your generous comments that afternoon to you and to the members of the subcommittee if i can i'd like to give you the bottom line first despite worrisome trends we are dealing with imperfect information regarding the intentions of the iranian regime in the americas and therefore in my estimation the ultimate implications for regional security democracy and development priorities are not entirely clear but what is clear is this nations respect democratic principles in the americas tend also to be nations that offer aid and comfort to global actors who reject the norms of the international system ungoverned regions within countries offer a permissive environment for mischief making and they weak internet interim american system offers little in terms of the ability to counterbalance extralegal threatening acts as the ongoing crisis in honduras shows the first priority of the hemisphere must therefore be to strengthen democracy and the institutions of democratic governance although a flurry of think tank reports for the new administration ignored the central point this is not a theoretical academic exercise democracy must be patiently nurtured and reinforced as a priority it's a fundamental national security concern of the united states because healthy democracies in latin america in the caribbean make better partners to advance a common agenda consistent with broader u s national interest on the other hand countries where democracy is weak where the of the state are ineffective or were democratically elected leaders have in fact curtailed democratic institutions for their own purposes have proven time and again to be the most likely portals through which unhelpful influence of such as iran are introduced into the region of course each nation of the americas as a sovereign independent state each nation has the right to maintain relations with whomever they wish subject to prevailing international law and practice it is truly unfortunate however that any nation of the americas would go out of its way to intensify state to state relations with iran a regime that has been repeatedly identified as a state sponsor of terror has already been mentioned which has been directly implicated in the only examples of extra regional terrorist acts in the americas other than nine eleven and which is in violation of numerous un resolutions in this regard then as well as well known efforts to midwife iran's entry into the americas through reciprocal leaders visits trade and commercial agreements including airlink potential sanctions busting and friendly votes in bodies such as the international atomic energy agency are at best polarizing and counterproductive in the hemispheric context most recently in fact mr chairman you referred to the morgenthau report and that also provided some important information in terms of the iranian links on the financial side at the same time when the list of priorities includes economic recovery from global recession job creation to eradicate poverty reducing a comparative education deficit among many other things it makes little obvious sense for leaders like those in bolivia ecuador and nicaragua to take actions to undermine the very cooperation that they need and claim to want from the united states for iran the benefits of closer relations in the americas are not in doubt iran  able to build commercial relations with other parts of the world especially in agriculture the regime is able to exchange information technology particularly on energy and gain access to raw materials which may include uranium by developing close regional ties iran also has the ability to leapfrog its international isolation potentially evading sanctions then discussed the regime is also able to build international coalitions in support of its domestic activities including potential development of nuclear weapons by expanding its diplomatic its intelligence capability as well outreach ensure that choose to do so to non state actors and affinity organizations which may be working to raise funds through drug trafficking and other means in the western hemisphere for certain activities in the middle east or which may be buil their own extra legal capabilities in the americas with this in mind the pending visit of iran's president to brazil next month is a potential concern because brazilians engagement with iran will give a political boost to the regime even as the international community  to find a solution to the nuclear nonproliferation dilemma to the extent the visit does go ahead one would hope that the brazilians would use the opportunity to reaffirm that the western hemisphere is no place for iranian meddling and would seek to use their access an emerging hemispheric leadership role for the purpose of vocally supporting international nonproliferation efforts and mr chairman i appreciate your comments about the pending nomination of tom shannon as well i think it's important to have an active investor in brazil to make exactly this point more broadly these are issues that should be watched carefully in other words iran's engagement in the americas and for the united states several actions are appropriate we should be wary we should be watchful and we should be prepared to act in concert with the international community particularly on the law enforcement side but we should not act on incomplete information unnecessarily nor take steps we must continue to understand better the true nature of the threat and pursue actions with  others second we should continue to emphasize the hemisphere growth agenda including trade investment expansion which is already been mentioned in the rule of law which will help build strong and expanding middle classes and reinforce just a transparent society less prone to authoritarian standing personal relationship with the iranian revolutionary leaders dating back to his first term as president from one hundred seventy nine to one thousand nine hundred the second point of general agreement is that iran's facing international sanctions because of his nontransparent nuclear program is primarily seeking political support and leverage against united states rather than true deep economic relationships in latin america the exceptions are there are benches related to strategic minerals and hydrocarbon a final and most important point of agreement is that the primary  sole real point of convergence between auckland in and out in child as in forging the relationship is openly declared hostility toward the united states and its allies particularly israel the leaders make a central point of publicly linking the bowl of aryan an iranian revolution this common desire to build alternative power structure free of the perceived dominance of the empire as these leaders call the united states is the only real reason that a populist and self described revolutionary socially and staunchly secular government in latin america would make common cause with a reactionary theocratic islamist regime thousands of miles away trade relations between latin american iran are still minimal particularly when compared to latin america commercial ties to the united states there is no shared history or religious heritage and virtually no cultural bonds or linguistic bonds the only shared platform is a deep dislike for a common enemy and that's the only thing that can explain this otherwise improbable alliance manhattan district attorney robert morgenthau has been mentioned last week mentioned talked about the investigations ongoing in his office in tehran in front companies and banks in latin america i want to focus on a series of these type of relationships that high like the murky this murky and nontransparent whether in latin america for some time it has been known to the bank that noth facilities of up to one hundred twenty million dollars to help stimulate exports and imports between the two countries documents commits the nations to find ways for the two countries to quote expand their mutual banking relation article six of the protocol states to the export bank the first is the total amount of exports and imports between ecuador and iran over the past two years has been less than one million dollars a credit line of one hundred million dollars is not proportionate to any actual commercial activity the second thing is that the export development bank as an iranian bank is offering to standing and complex web of relationships between state and non state actors they carry across ron's relationships with his latin american allies iran is the primary sponsor of hezbollah a terrorist organization has carried out numerous attacks against american citizens as well as in relationship with both the fart and hezbollah for more than two decades the common denominators among the state strong anti u s platform in the sponsorship of non state armed groups operating outside their national borders is therefore necessary to ask whether non state actors protected by their state sponsors will themselves form alliances and for the threaten the stability of the region as well as the security of the united states a primary concern is a possible hezbollah fark alliance centered on the training of armed groups and drug trafficking given i witnesses as well as by the members who gave their opening remarks the activities of iran in the western hemisphere been made possible thanks to the essential collaboration of president chavez of venezuela providing iran an operational base from which to expand its influence and operations throughout the continent many if not most of these activities and installations are designed to facilitate and provide cover for illegal and subversive endeavors that not only involve the iranian government but also terrorist the availability of these financial institutions for romney and us is to iran for obvious reasons in the industrial and mining area the iranians have acquired so called industrial installations drugs weapons and other items useful to them and their terrorist fly and in addition the islamic republic republic bought a gold mine and i believe our which indeed produces gold but also produces uranium recently venezuela signed agreements with agreed to build an explosives planted in kind of almost eight and produces weapons in the so called tractor plant and believe our technical assistance as we have seen will now be granted to venezuela by iran in the area of nuclear power and for the purpose of finding  extensive in the proceeds are used to finance further penetration of iranian interests in the region as well as to terrorist organizations mentioned above oceangoing tuna boats purchased in ecuador and  and is also flown or shipped in boats through central america particularly honduras and guatemala into mexico and from there the u s production by the of the drug trade by the venezuelan national guard is notorious in summary iran over the past several years is build up an extensive network of facilities throughout the region concentrated as well ecuador believe is central american founded and involved with the financing of terrorist organizations drug trafficking weapons smuggling money laundering and the provision of chemical precursors to the colombian drug cartel it is becoming increasingly clear that one of the principal motivations of all this activity is to be able to retaliate against the united states that it is attacked particularly through the damaging through damaging the venezuelan oil facilities and blocking the panama canal in short the enter a new iranian penetration into the western hemisphere indeed is a security threat to the united states and the rest of the hemisphere the united states and other governments should implemented immediate actions to confront this thread including action against venezuelan financial institutions trolling the mouth of the orinoco river as well as actively monitoring iranian activities in panama throughout the hemisphere while denouncing the activities outlined above international forum concerning morgenthau has it right when will the rest of the government other than the treasury come along not to mention the rest of the hemisphere thank you very much thank you very much let me let me start with the with the questioning i know that dr a world war two hitler and stalin had a pact and they both invaded poland and we have found that in the past marriages of convenience that have been made their relationship between the conservative theocratic government like iran and a number of secular leftist governments in latin america seems rather unnatural to me force be to appeal to citizens of those countries can someone describe the public perception of iran and countries where the ties of a close is such as venezuela nicaraguan bolivia and to what extent has it been a discord between the ideology of iran's conservative the aquatic government and that of secular latin american governments like venezuela and bolivia and how do moderate leftist leaning governments like chile an brazil view iran's overtures towards latin america anyone want to take a stab at that i've just spent some time in ecuador and in bolivia and i think that most people are fairly oblivious to the iranian presence there the tractor factory this supposed to be rolling out these tractors is actually rolling out about five or six months that  people in the regions but i do think there is a great deal of concern in the banking sectors of bolivia and ecuador and elsewhere of the senate what the what the iranians are doing there and the constant venezuelan accompanying of iranian officials to meetings and the recruiting of young people as i outlined in my written testimony for training in iran i think is one the other things that have caused a great deal of concern particularly in bolivia venezuela ecuador and from the communist party of ethanol and in el salvador they've been of students and government workers over to iran for training for thirty to ninety days and counterintelligence crowd control a whole series of things so i think there are there is among the people who are in the political elites or in this political circles a great deal of concern i think in the strata below that there's not much known about it and it is one of the other sort of ongoing multi circus things that president chavez and others do to keep people distracted but i think in the people who actually work in the regions in the areas where we're iran is most active there's a great deal of concern about that thank you  similarities to what fellini used to say the great satan and i think finally the most important one is a practical the enemy of my enemy is my friend they both the united states a great threat and to full day have a united front targeted hezbollah connected drug trafficking in colombia and the tri border region of argentina brazil and paraguayan separately in april two thousand and nine out in the netherlands until he's arrested seventeen people for alleged involvement in a drug trafficking way and with connections to hezbollah how would you read your eyes as well as role in drug trafficking in the region in relation to its financing what's the extent of his powers financial network in latin america and how important is such financing to hezbollah what types of infrastructure does it follow have in latin america and the caribbean and where as it is at the tri border area of argentina brazil and paraguay things go on in there but having said that that clearly is an area where hezbollah has been active in terms of some of their operations but i think the question is what is that money to be used for and i think that it goes to my my oral testimony about the intentions of the iranian regime and the  organization that supports and the question is is that money channeled back to the middle east to be utilized for activities in the middle east region or is it designed to be used for activities in latin america itself to expand perhaps  the behavior will increase and even if that money is designed to return to the middle east if you will nonetheless the lawless activity going on to engage in that fund raising are disruptive and in fact destructive to much in the number of anti semitic acts in venezuela you mention the raiding of the thrashing of a synagogue by hooligans which i think was more than just hooligans there's also been police raids on a jewish center in  thousand and four and two thousand and seven the state department annual human rights report indicates that incidents in attacks against jewish institutions have become more frequent venezuela let me ask you what extent is the rise of anti semitism in venezuela linked to the country's relationship with iran under president ahmadinejad that would be venezuela's strengthening obviously known for his anti jewish anti semitic views do you see a pattern of increasing anti semitism in other countries in the region with increasing iranian engagement such as nicaragua and is the anti semitic messaging in latin america similar to the anti semitic references in iran affairs committee very strongly worded letter to president chavez signed by eleven democrats and nine republicans it was truly a bipartisan letter with with strong words and so i wait for the opportunity when he's going to do it again and the chairman's right there was a letter that went from this committee but there's also a resolution in the house that i believe is very important that we move forward and maybe tomorrow they'll be an opportunity for that i don't know but i think now is the time it's always the right time to speak out against anti semitism so with that mr chairman my time is up thank you thank you strongest sanctions on iran because of their nuclear weapons program you know the eventually having to possibly go to war are they reaching out to other countries to undermine the possibility that other countries whether it be venezuela or some other countries in latin america or all of latin america not voting in the united overly receptive it was a little bit skeptical and german and said well what is the relationship between these two countries dramatically different nations but i think over time the iranians have realized the value not just of a relationship don't even know what we don't know and yet do you pick up the wall street journal and there's a story about an intrepid reporter who shows up at a factory that's a jointly owned iranian venezuelan factor you've done that kind of aggressive reporting throughout your career what's your assessment of intelligence collection capabilities and then maybe also you could tell us a little bit more about your observation on nicaragua kidnapping that occurs across business people and especially in the province in which the president's brother happens to be governor and is there any indication who  community we just closing our eyes to the fact that this is a place where we have no real good information and cargo and individuals can be coming in from this point to the united states without any i mean on our receiving under some iran there was no cultural political historic tie so that in your view to a very serious level of national security concern panels are helpful in that you get a spectrum of perspectives but clearly there are some incompatibilities here and the conclusion so i'd like you to further unpack your conclusions