Iranian State Sponsorship of Terror: Threatening U.S. Security, Global Stability, and Regional Peace

Matthew Levitt, Senior Fellow and Director of Terrorism Studies, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy:

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Testimony before the House Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, and the Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation.

CIA officials regularly describe Iran as “the foremost state sponsor of terror.”[1] President Bush reaffirmed this assessment in his recent State of the Union address, saying, "Today, Iran remains the world's primary state sponsor of terror.” [2] And earlier this month, British Prime Minister Tony Blair echoed the U.S. government’s perception of Iran, saying Iran “certainly does sponsor terrorism. There is no doubt about that at all.” [3]

To be sure, Iran’s support for Lebanese Hezbollah alone justifies these conclusions. Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, was responsible for more American deaths than any other terrorist organization until September 11. Highlights of Hezbollah’s record of terror attacks include suicide truck bombings targeting U.S. and French forces in Beirut (in 1983 and 1984) and U.S. forces again in Saudi Arabia (in 1996), its record of suicide bombing attacks targeting Jewish and Israeli interests such as those in Argentina (1992 and 1994) and in Thailand (attempted in 1994), and a host of other plots targeting American, French, German, British, Kuwaiti, Bahraini and other interests in plots from Europe to Southeast Asia to the Middle East. [4]

1. See, for example, George Tenet, "External Threats to U.S. National Security," Testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, February 6, 2002
2. State of the Union Address, Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives, The United States Capitol, Washington, D.C., February 2, 2205, available online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/02/20050202-11.html
3. “Blair Says Iran Must Not Hinder Peace in Middle East,” AP, February 8, 2005
4. See Matthew Levitt, “Hizbullah’s African Activities Remain Undisrupted,” RUSI/Jane’s Homeland Security and Resilience Monitor, March 1, 2004 (posted online February 4, 2004); Matthew Levitt, “Smeared in Blood, Hezbollah Fingerprints All Over Globe,” The Australian, June 9, 2003; Ely Karmon,
Matthew Levitt – Iran: Foremost State Sponsor of Terror, February 16, 2005 20
Fight on All Fronts: Hezballah, The War on Terror, and the War