By now, the idea that Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of
international terrorism is fairly common knowledge. Even so, the
State Department’s annual survey of global terrorism trends
provides a useful glimpse into the breathtaking scope of Tehran’s
regional troublemaking. According to
the latest edition of Country Reports on Terrorism,
released on April 30th by State’s Office of the Coordinator for
Counterterrorism, Iran “remained the most active state sponsor of
terrorism” in 2008, responsible for violence and instability that
thwarted “international efforts to promote peace, threatened
economic stability in the Gulf, and undermined the growth of
democracy.”
Iran, the study details, continues to serve as a logistical and
financial lifeline for Lebanon’s terrorist powerhouse, Hezbollah
- to the tune of “more than $200 million in funding” and the
training of “over 3,000 Hizballah fighters at camps in Iran”
annually. Last year, the Islamic Republic also continued to
provide major support in the form of “weapons, training, and
funding” to Palestinian rejectionist groups such as Hamas, the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), expanding the
capability of those groups to target the state of Israel.
The study also makes
particular note of the Islamic Republic’s pernicious
influence in Iraq. “Terrorism committed by illegal armed groups
receiving weapons and training from Iran continued to endanger
the security and stability of Iraq” in 2008, albeit with less
severity than in previous years, it says. “Many of the groups
receiving ideological and logistical support from Iran were based
in Shia communities in Central and Southern Iraq.” And while
“[t]he Iraqi government pressed senior Iranian leaders to end
support for lethal aid to Iraqi militias,” Iran’s ongoing
sponsorship of instability in the former Ba’athist state led the
Iraqi government to launch a military campaign “to combat
extralegal Iranian-supported militias.” That offensive has paid
major dividends since its start in April 2008, most notably the
neutering of firebrand Shi’a cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army.
Still, the study warns, “Shia militant groups’ ties to Iran
remained a challenge and threat to Iraq’s long term stability.”
The list does not end there. “Iran remained unwilling to bring to
justice senior al-Qa’ida members it has detained, and has refused
to publicly identify those senior members in its custody,” the
report notes. And the Qods Force, the paramilitary arm of Iran’s
feared clerical army, the Pasdaran, “provided training to the
Taliban on small unit tactics, small arms, explosives, and
indirect fire weapons” in Afghanistan, with major detrimental
effects on stability there.
Damning documentation indeed. But one has to wonder whether it
will have any impact at all the Obama administration’s concerted
efforts to engage Iran’s ayatollahs. Chances are that it will
not; White House officials have made it abundantly clear that
they are committed to pursuing “dialogue” with the Iranian
regime. These unwelcome revelations, however, should serve as a
timely reminder that the current regime in Tehran is in fact far
from a constructive diplomatic partner.
