President Donald Trump’s declaration that the United States was “locked and loaded” if Iran’s security forces killed peaceful protesters carried a special sting. Less than 24 hours later, US special forces attacked Caracas, abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from his home and took him to New York to face trial on “narcoterrorism” charges.

In showing that his administration can follow through on threats in Venezuela, Trump has escalated the psychological pressure on the Islamic Republic. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called his statement “reckless and dangerous”. Clearly, the Iranian government got the warning.

However, Iran is no Venezuela. What happened in Caracas on Saturday cannot really take place in Tehran.

The realities of operability, which allowed an invasion to occur in Venezuela, highlight why a similar intervention in Iran is simply out of the question for the US.

The CIA had operated in Caracas for half a year, preparing for the operation. The intelligence agency had an asset close to Maduro who helped track him down. In the early hours of Saturday, US fighter jets launched air strikes on military targets in and around Caracas. A US special forces team was dispatched afterwards to abduct Maduro from his residence.

What helped secure the success of the operation was that the........

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