If President Trump knew of Iran’s quiet engagement in Latin America, he would have declared war on Iran last week.

That may be somewhat of an overstatement, but I say it to emphasize the significance of Iranian operations in Latin America in light of Trump’s warning to Iranian President Rouhani via Twitter.

Unknown to most because of the clandestine-like nature of Iranian foreign operations in Latin America, Iran conducts extensive terrorist operations by way of its state-funded conduit of terrorism, Hezbollah. The Lebanon-based terrorist organization conducts financing and other illicit operations in Latin America.

While Hezbollah operates in a more paramilitary nature, Iran also conducts official state advances such as cozying up to Venezuela. By granting Iran large tracts of isolated land, Iran is able to develop missile technology that can be used offensively while also making Venezuela a strategic ally. In addition to Venezuela, Iran has aligned itself with numerous other Latin American countries.

When Iran faced serious financial difficulties due to U.S.-imposed sanctions prior to President Obama’s Iran Deal, the purse strings to funding the Iranian cultivated terrorist organization, Hezbollah, dried up. Since the 80’s, Hezbollah received the majority of its funding through Iran to conduct their operations against Israel in southern Lebanon while also acting in support of its patron state, Iran, to execute terrorist operations as an extension of Iranian foreign policy. With financial flow to Hezbollah cut, the terrorist organization had to support itself.

Hezbollah chose to set up financial operations in Latin America. These operations consist of cocaine trafficking in addition to other illicit smuggling activities. Once the sanctions from the Iran Deal were removed, Iran was able to support Hezbollah again. Only this time, Hezbollah was more financially sound than when Iran first began to fund its activities in the early days of the 1980s.

In turn, Iran joined Hezbollah in Latin America. They not only develop ways to make money and build ties with governments of Latin American countries, but they also hope to develop the relationships with the many Shi’a who reside in Latin America.

Now that President Trump backed out of the Iran Deal, new sanctions are back on. This will adversely affect Iran as much as it will cause Hezbollah to develop new economic opportunities. It is expected that Iranian and Hezbollah efforts in Latin America will be ramped up as a result.

Iranian activities in Latin America are dangerous to the U.S. because they have key implications in the Western hemisphere that make Iran’s reach to America even easier to attain. By operating in America’s backyard, Iran becomes closer to developing first-strike capabilities.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy considered Soviet missiles in Cuba to be dangerous because the Soviets were stepping up their capabilities in the American hemisphere. The Soviets were showing that they could do whatever they wanted on the world stage and there was nothing the Americans could do to stop them.

A similar condition is happening in Latin America, but this time the aggressor is Iran.

The aggression in Latin America through Iranian operations is not benign. It has serious effects. Namely, Iran is trying to replace the U.S. as the power ally to Latin American countries that can be used for geopolitical significance. Hezbollah has developed a working relationship with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), further enabling their operations to garner increased advantage. Venezuela has gone so far as to aid both Hezbollah and FARC in extending influence and power in Latin America. Both Iran and Hezbollah have a lot to gain for strategic endeavors. So far, it is working.

The only thing that is shocking about it is that the U.S. has done nothing to stop Iran in the pursuit of securing the Latin American countries as allies.

Known for expressing himself on Twitter for many of his policy decisions, President Trump indicates a newfound concern for Iran. While his writing style on Twitter has been analyzed and debated by many pundits even concerning his spelling, the extensive capitalization of his words to President Rouhani indicate his severity. The warning should not be seen as an empty message but rather one that can have serious ramifications.

Trump’s Twitter warning was reverberated by National Security Advisor, John Bolton. Known to many in national security circles for a long time, Bolton is known as staunchly cautious about Iran, and he has been for a while. By some, he is considered hawkish. By others, he is considered a time-served expert on Iran who knows the intricacies of foreign policy on Iran more thoroughly than most. Moreover, most experts in the national security community would probably contend that it is a mixture of both.

Nevertheless, Bolton knows Iran and is aware of Iranian activities both in the Middle East and Latin America. He has studied the country’s foreign policy extensively and is very familiar with Hezbollah. Furthermore, the national security apparatus of the government has Hezbollah experts who know of the threat in Latin America. It is now only a question as to whether their concerns have been shared with their principal consumer of intelligence products, the President.

Iran’s activities in Latin America represent this threat. It is not a new threat, but one that is has existed for many years. Last fall, U.S. officials demonstrated their intent to combat the Iranian threat in Latin America, but that does not go far enough. Iranian operations through Hezbollah are increasing in strength and should be viewed as a growing threat. It is one that President Trump should consider in his attitude toward Iran and one that our intelligence apparatus can better illustrate to him.

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J. Robert Kane studies intelligence and terrorism. He is an intelligence officer and researcher who has studied Middle Eastern targets. In addition to research funded by the U.S. Government, he has conducted studies at New York University, Northwestern University, and the University of Chicago.

The views, opinions, and findings of the author expressed in this article should not be construed as asserting or implying U.S. government endorsement of its factual statements and interpretations or representing the official positions of any component of the United States government.