Washington and Caracas' New Dogfight

Venezuela might sell its 21 U.S.-manufactured F-16 fighter jets to a third country, such as Iran, a Venezuelan government official said May 16. The Venezuelan move follows the May 15 U.S. ban on the sale of weapons to Venezuela due to Caracas' lack of full cooperation in the U.S.-jihadist war and because of Caracas' suspected transfer of resources to militant organizations, such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Venezuela has made this threat before, and even if the South American nation's F-16s ended up in Iran's or China's hands, the military impact would be negligible.