ON SEPTEMBER 24 the International Atomic Energy Agency passed a resolution that, in part, called on Iran “to observe fully its commitments and to return to the negotiating process that has made good progress in the last two years.” The resolution is just the latest chapter in the ongoing dispute over Iran’s nuclear programs, but a look at the votes cast by the IAEA’s members reveals a great deal about the international landscape: Of the IAEA’s 35 board members, 22 voted in favor of the resolution, 12 abstained (including Russia, which is heavily invested in Iran’s nuclear programs), and one nation voted against the resolution.

That lone “no” vote was cast by Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela, which has increasingly become Iran’s willing and vocal ally in the western hemisphere.