[Raj_Copi_Jin]

Iran is widely recognized as the world's leading state sponsor of international terrorism, training, arming and funding groups that share the regime's stated goal of destroying the state of Israel. That includes hundreds of millions in funding annually to Hamas ($20 million - $30 million)[4] and Hezbollah ($100 million[5]-$200 million).[6] Among the weapons Iran has provided Hezbollah are Katyusha rockets, surface-to-air rockets and anti-tank weapons.[7]

Iran offers similar support to the Taliban and to Shia insurgent groups, which have inflicted casualties on American, British and other forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. [8] [9]

Iran is expanding its terror network to the West, relying on Hezbollah and splinter groups of Iran's Revolutionary Guard to recruit and train sleeper cells in foreign capitals. [10] The terror network that Iran created and continues to sustain, combined with the regime's intransigence over its ambitions to become a nuclear power, pose an ominous threat and constitute a growing concern for the international community. [11]

Iran poses different kinds of threats to different nations and regions across the globe.

Israel
The Shia terrorist group Hezbollah, which operates mainly out of Lebanon, is Tehran's primary weapon against Israel and the West. Iran helped found, organize and train Hezbollah and gives the group $100 to $200 million a year. It also continues to provide arms to the group, despite the demands of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. [12] Since the Hezbollah-Israel war, Iran has replenished Hezbollah's cache of Katyusha and longer-range rockets, and has supplied more advanced anti-tank weapons and surface-to-air rockets. [13] Hezbollah maintains close ties with Islamic Revolutionary Corps officials, who are under the command of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khameini. [14]

Iran supports Palestinian terror groups opposed to a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. [15] It gives Hamas $20 million a year, [16] and it provided an additional $50 million after Hamas won control of the Palestinian Authority in 2006. [17] Iran also provided Hamas members with intensive military training in the weeks and months leading up to the group's takeover of the Gaza Strip. [18]

Iraq
Iran has worked hard to fuel violence in Iraq. Iran supports Shia insurgents by giving them about $3 million per month in funding, as well as training and increasingly advanced weapons. [19] Of greatest concern to American soldiers are Iranian-supplied explosively formed penetrators (EFP's).The weapons were responsible for 18 percent of American combat deaths in the last quarter of 2006, and 30 percent in Shiite-dominated areas. [20] In July 2007, Iran planned an operation that killed five American servicemen, according to the U.S. Army. [21] Shia groups now use Fajr-3 rockets bearing the markings of Iran's Revolutionary Guard that are dated 2007 (Hezbollah also receives the Fajr-3). [22] Iran also stokes Iraq's infighting, and to that end, has begun arming Sunni groups as well. [23]

Afghanistan
Iran has shrewdly armed the Taliban's campaign against NATO forces and civilians in Afghanistan even as it publicly supports the government of Hamid Karzai. [24] British intelligence reported Iran is providing the Taliban 107mm mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, C-4 explosives and small arms. [25] [26] Iran also gave the Taliban surface-to-air missiles, which they have used against British troops. [27]

Europe and beyond
European Union (E.U.) officials have identified 800 Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists residing in Germany and sleeper cells in 20 E.U. nations. Hezbollah cells are utilizing key European capitals as intelligence-gathering centers. Europe serves as a popular location for Hezbollah operatives to conduct fundraising activities that accrue an estimate $198 million a year. [28]

Iran has worked directly and through proxies, namely small groups linked to the Iran Revolutionary Guards, to recruit potential suicide bombers to attack Israel, Europe and the United States. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has praised martyrdom as an "eternal art." [29] The Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign, backed by the regime and linked with the Iran Revolutionary Guards, has reportedly enlisted 40,000 people to carry out suicide attacks. [30] A division within the Islamic Revolutionary Guards seeks to recruit Iranians to commit acts of terror abroad.

Iran maintains terrorist training camps within its borders and abroad. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), an extra-territorial arm of the Iran Revolutionary Guards, operates 20 known terrorist training camps and centers. [31] Hamas, Hezbollah and Shia groups in Iraq send fighters to camps in Iran for months and even years of intensive training. Through Hezbollah, Iran trains insurgents in Iraq. [32]

[radikal]

Footnotes

[4] Hamas," Council on Foreign Relations Web site, http://www.cfr.org/publication/8968/, accessed July 2, 2007

[5] Aversa, Jeannine, "Levey: Iran 'central banker of terror'," Associated Press via Iran Focus, Aug. 28, 2006

[6] Wilson, Scott, "Lebanese Wary of a Rising Hezbollah," The Washington Post, Dec. 20, 2004, A17, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...04Dec19_2.html

[7] Hughes, Robin, "Iran Replenishes Hizbullah's Arms Inventory," Jane's Defence Weekly, Jan.3, 2007

[8] Harding, Thomas, "Taliban 'using missiles from Iran to target British troops," The Daily Telegraph, May 22, 2007

[9] Gordon, Michael R.; Shane, Scott, "Behind U.S. Pressure On Iran, Long-Held Worry Over A Deadly Device In Iraq," The New York Times, March 27, 2007

[10] Levitt, Mathew A., "Islamic extremism in Europe," Testimony to the Committee on International Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Emerging Threats, United States House of Representatives, April 7, 2005, http://wwwa.house.gov/international_.../lev042705.pdf

[11] Thomas, George, "Iran trains 'ultimate martyrs,'" Christian World News, May 12, 2006, http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/CWN/051206Iran.asp; International Institute for Strategic Studies, "Iran's nuclear programme," Strategic Comments, Volume 12, Issue 1, Feb. 2006

[12] U.N. Security Council Resolution No. 1701, Section 15, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4785963.stm

[13] Hughes, Robin, "Iran Replenishes Hizbullah's Arms Inventory," Jane's Defence Weekly, Jan. 3, 2007

[14] Byman, Daniel L, "Iran, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction," Subcommittee on the Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attacks of the Homeland Security Committee, The Brookings Institute, Sept. 8, 2005, http://www.brookings.edu/views/testi...an20050908.pdf

[15] Country Reports on Terrorism, Chapter 6- State Sponsors of Terror Overview-Iran," U.S. Department of State Web site, April 28, 2006, http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2005/64337.htm

[16] Hamas," Council on Foreign Relations Web site, http://www.cfr.org/publication/8968/, accessed July 2, 2007

[17] Iran pledges $50m Palestinian aid," BBC News, April 16, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4914334.stm

[18] Rabinovich, Abraham, "Hamas digs in for war in Gaza," The Australian, March 16, 2007

[19] Partlow, Joshua, "U.S.: Iran, Hezbollah Training Iraqi Militants," The Washington Post, July 2, 2007, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews

[20] Gordon, Michael R.; Shane, Scott, "Behind U.S. Pressure on Iran, Long-Held Worry Over a Deadly Device in Iraq," The New York Times, March 27, 2007

[21] Burns, John F., Gordon, Michael R., "U.S. Says Iran Helped Iraqis Kill Five G.I.'s," The New York Times, July 3, 2007

[22] Wright, Robin, "Iranian Flow Of Weapons Increasing, Officials Say; Arms Shipments Tracked To Iraqi, Afghan Groups," The Washington Post, June 3, 2007, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...060201020.html

[23] Rubin, Alissa J., "U.S. Suspects That Iran Aids Both Sunni and Shiite Militias," The New York TImes, A12, April 12, 2007

[24] Straziuso, Jason; Daniszewski, John, "General: Iran aid to Taliban is strategic," Newsday (Associated Press), June 12, 2006.

[25] Wright, Robin, "Iranian Flow Of Weapons Increasing, Officials Say; Arms Shipments Tracked To Iraqi, Afghan Groups," The Washington Post, June 3, 2007, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/02/AR2007060201020.html

[26] Blair, Tony, "What I've learned," The Economist, May 31, 2007, http://www.economist.com/opinion/dis...ory_id=9257593

[27] Harding, Thomas, "Taliban 'using missiles from Iran to target British troops," The Daily Telegraph, May 22, 2007

[28] Levitt, Mathew A., "Islamic extremism in Europe," Testimony to the Committee on International Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Emerging Threats, United States House of Representatives, April 7, 2005, http://wwwa.house.gov/international_.../lev042705.pdf

[29] "Iran's new president glorifies martyrdom," Middle East Media Research Institute, Special Dispatch No. 945, July 29, 2005, http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Pa...=sd&ID=SP94505

[30] Colvin, Marie, Michael Smith and Sarah Baxter, "Iran suicide bombers 'ready to hit Britain'," The Sunday Times, April 16, 2006,http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...icle706132.ece

[31] Razi, Farhad, "20 Terrorist training camps in Iran uncovered," Global Politician, March 1, 2006, http://globalpolitician.com/articled...39&cid=2&sid=4

[32] Partlow, Joshua, "U.S.: Iran, Hezbollah Training Iraqi Militants," The Washington Post, July 2, 2007, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews

The Israel Project is an international non-profit organization devoted to educating the press and the public about Israel while promoting security, freedom and peace. The Israel Project provides journalists, leaders and opinion-makers accurate information about Israel. The Israel Project is not related to any government or government agency. Board of Advisors: Sen. Evan Bayh (IN), Sen. Ben Cardin (MD), Sen. Saxby Chambliss (GA), Sen. Tom Coburn (OK), Sen. Norm Coleman (MN), Sen. Susan Collins (ME), Sen. Judd Gregg (NH), Sen. Joe Lieberman (CT), Sen. Ben Nelson (NE), Sen. Gordon Smith (OR), Sen. Arlen Specter (PA), Sen. Ron Wyden (OR), Rep. Rob Andrews (NJ), Rep. Shelley Berkley (NV), Rep. Tom Davis (VA), Rep. Eliot Engel (NY), Rep. Frank Pallone (NJ), Rep. Jon Porter (NV), Rep. John Sarbanes (MD), Rep. Jim Saxton (NJ), Rep. Brad Sherman (CA), Rep. Joe Wilson (SC), Actor and Director Ron Silver

[NeroASERCH]

Steven, it's this sort of posts that makes people leave the forum.
Can you not talk about the subject "Summary of recent Iranian projects" without involving/provoking Andak? He's said it many times that he doesn't support the Mullahs of Iran in any way (including going nuclear).

Right now people are provoking poor andak....
It is andak just being here that makes people leave and that is a fact and do me a favor and stop telling me what to post. I am pretty sure that he is against the bombing of the Iranian nuke sites.

Thank you.