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USADI
Commentary
Terrorism Remains Tehran’s Weapon of Choice
Far from being a show of “force”, Iran’s recent
week-long third-rate military maneuver in the
Persian Gulf, and its laughable claim to
“technological advancement”, were just a display
of the clerical regime’s belligerence.
Boasting about flying boats, radar-evading
torpedoes and array of funny sounding missiles,
fully fit the pattern of Tehran’s hype and
exaggerated claims to military prowess. It
serves, among other things, to invigorate the
regime’s increasingly shrinking loyal base.
Military experts have disputed claims of the
indigenousness and sophistication of these
technologies and their impact on the balance of
power in the Gulf.
While Iran’s belligerent use of conventional
arms to foment instability in the Persian Gulf
must not be overlooked, there are more pressing
security challenges posed by the mullahs’
regime.
Let’s make no mistake; it is the
non-conventional arsenal, particularly the
nuclear weapons, as well as the use of terrorism
which constitute the main pillars of Iran’s
military doctrine based on an “asymmetric
warfare.”
Last month, the local chapter of the
government-sponsored ‘People’s Headquarters in
Continuation of the Path of the Martyrs’ in
Iran’s western province of Lorestan began
enlisting “martyrdom-seeking volunteers” to
carry out suicide attacks against the United
States. This terror outfit, set up by Iran’s
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in
2004, said that it was waiting for its orders
from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei to “carry out its real duties”.
Also last month, Hassan Abbasi, the director of
Iran’s "National Security Doctrine Centre", one
of IRGC’s affiliate organizations, boasted about
Tehran’s potential to “endanger American
security and economic interests worldwide."
Abbasi, an IRGC senior commander, is reported to
be the “brain” behind the IRGC’s terrorist
strategies. In 2004, he talked about "a strategy
drawn up for the destruction of Anglo-Saxon
civilization." He explained that “there are 29
sensitive sites in the U.S. and in the West. We
have already spied on these sites and we know
how we are going to attack them."
Another terror outfit dedicated to this
recruitment drive is the “Headquarters for
Commemoration of Martyrs of Global Islamic
Movement”, established in 1982. It grabbed the
headlines in spring of 2004 when it was
introduced as an NGO in charge of recruiting
“suicide volunteers” to combat “World
arrogance.” As Tehran’s Mayor, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad took this organization under his
wings and facilitated its activities by placing
the capital's resources at its disposal.
Since 2004, the Headquarters has actively
recruited Iranians and foreign nationals for
terror operations. Boasting of its success, the
group’s spokesman Samadi told Mehr News Agency
last year that “40,000 have already signed up
for martyrdom-seeking operations and are
organized into three battalions of volunteers
with more to follow in due course”.
As with other aspects of Tehran’s terror
machine, the IRGC and its affiliate “NGOs” are
behind the recruitment and training of would-be
suicide bombers. Last summer, Mohammad-Reza
Jafari, a senior officer in the IRGC, told the
hard-line weekly Parto Sokhan that the garrison
under his command was inaugurated to recruit and
train volunteers for “martyrdom-seeking
operations”. Last fall, another senior IRGC
commander Brig. Gen. Mohammad Kossari, who heads
the Security Bureau of Iran’s Armed Forces,
threatened the United States. “We know all of
the enemies’ weak points and what to do against
them. Today, we have martyrdom-seeking
individuals who are ready to strike at these
sensitive points,” he boasted.
In a recent hearing, Ambassador Nicholas Burns,
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs,
correctly noted that “Iranian leaders consider
extremism and terror to be legitimate tools of
propagating their influence domestically and
regionally.” Indeed, in the last two decades,
Iran’s primary instrument of advancing its
foreign policy objectives has been terrorism or
the mere threat of using it. When all else
fails, dispatch of the suicide bombers and
hostage-takers ranks first in Tehran's foreign
policy agenda. With the mullahs' diplomatic
machinery hitting rock bottom and in disarray
these days, there's an even greater need to
revert to terrorism.
Ambassador Burns also explained that the
administration’s policy is “to stop Iran’s
pursuit of nuclear weapons, its support for
terrorism, its harmful meddling in the affairs
of the region, and end its repression of its own
citizenry.” This multi-pronged diplomatic
campaign must go forward full speed and in
partnership with Iran's democratic opposition
which for the past quarter of century has taken
on the mullahs' regime in all four areas above.
It would be dangerously naïve to take Tehran's
terrorist activities as mere saber-rattling and
hollow rhetoric. However, the worst thing we
could do in the face of Iran’s rogue rising is
to get intimidated or get sucked into Tehran’s
desperate calls for talks. After almost three
years of EU’s futile and counter-productive
talks with the mullahs, determined and firm
measures against Tehran are need not more
conversations.
USADI
Commentary reflects the viewpoints of the US Alliance
for Democratic Iran in respect to issues and events
which directly or indirectly impact the US policy toward
Iran |