More on Iran in Latin America

I've written numerous times about the overblown assessments of the Iranian presence in Latin America.*  Now we're getting a new flurry, and they go roughly like this:

--the U.S. is concerned about Iran
--Iran has a presence in Latin America
--there could someday be a military threat
--we admit we have no evidence of anything

The last bit always leaves me wondering what the point is.  It could well be about message sending--let the Iranians know publicly we are watching, and Hugo Chávez as well.  Maybe even a message to Republicans who make a point of Obama being soft that they are taking the Iranian presence seriously (on the other hand, these predate Obama).

The downside, though, is wolf crying.  After talking incessantly about a non-existent threat, who would believe it if a real threat emerged?

*A quick search shows that in over three years since I first blogged about it, U.S. government analyses of Iran in Latin America have not improved.