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Leaked files reveal how Iranian terror suspects exploited Venezuelan passport system

Venezuelan passports provide visa-free access to more than 130 countries, including 26 European Union nations, making them valuable tools for international movement.

By Jewish Breaking News

The Trump administration is facing a national security nightmare as leaked Venezuelan intelligence documents reveal that over 10,000 Iranians, Syrians, and Lebanese nationals—many with suspected terror ties—obtained fraudulent passports that gives them unrestricted access to the United States.

Internal Venezuelan government records obtained by the Daily Mail expose a systematic operation spanning nearly a decade.

The leaked files contain passport numbers, birth dates, and personal details for individuals who had no legitimate claim to Venezuelan citizenship.

At the heart of the scheme stands Ghazi Nasr Al-Din, a Lebanese-born Venezuelan diplomat who used his position as chargé d’affaires in Damascus, Syria, to facilitate the operation.

Federal authorities designated Al-Din as a global terrorist in 2008 after determining he counseled Hezbollah donors on fundraising and provided specific bank account information to funnel money directly to the terror group.

“Nasr al Din has counseled Hezbollah donors on fundraising efforts and has provided donors with specific information on bank accounts where the donors’ deposits would go directly to Hezbollah,” Treasury Department officials stated at the time when placing him on the terrorism blacklist.

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The FBI later added him to its “seeking information” terrorism list in 2015 over his role in facilitating Hezbollah travel and operations.

Intelligence sources quoted in the report believe Al-Din personally signed or approved many of the fraudulent passports.

His operation worked alongside Venezuela’s former Vice-President Tareck El Aissami who took charge of issuing and granting visas and naturalizing citizens from different countries, especially Syrians, Lebanese, Jordanians, Iranians, and Iraqis.

He was arrested in April 2024 on charges related to embezzlement and money laundering

Former Venezuelan Vice-President Tareck El Aissami gestures after attending a ceremony to celebrate Independence Day, at the National Assembly building in Caracas on July 5, 2017. (Photo credit should read JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images)

U.S. officials now worry that Iranian operatives used these documents to establish themselves in South America before attempting illegal crossings into the United States.

Venezuelan passports provide visa-free access to more than 130 countries, including 26 European Union nations, making them valuable tools for international movement.

However, Venezuelan Embassy officials in Damascus denied any wrongdoing.

“These accusations are false,” an embassy representative told the Daily Mail. “Venezuela is a country and a territory of peace and love.”

Yet the pattern of document fraud stretches back to Hugo Chávez’s presidency, when a 2006 State Department report warned that Venezuelan travel documents were easily obtained by individuals not entitled to them.

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents apprehended 1,504 Iranian nationals who illegally entered the U.S. between 2021 through 2024, with 729 of those individuals released into the country under former President Biden’s administration.

In an internal memo, CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott noted thousands of Iranians have entered the country “illegally” and that “the threat of sleeper cells or sympathizers acting on their own, or at the behest of Iran, has never been higher.”

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