Right Truth: Iran's Quds Force: Supporting Terrorism Worldwide

Via Realite' EU

Last Wednesday, the European Union announced that it was introducing sanctions against Iran's elite Quds Force on the grounds of its technical and material support to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria in his repression of the five-month-old uprising against his regime. [1]

On the same day, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan, the top US military spokesman in Iraq, declared that Iranian-backed militias represent the greatest threat to Iraq’s security, outpacing al-Qaida-linked terrorists. Maj. Gen. Buchanan pointed out that the Quds Force “is providing direct support to the militias in terms of manning, equipping, provision of intelligence.” [2]

Global reach

According to the US State Department, the Quds Force, "the external operations branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is the regime’s primary mechanism for cultivating and supporting terrorists abroad." [3]

On October 25, 2007, the US Department of the Treasury named the Quds Force a “specially designated global terrorist organization,” freezing its assets under US jurisdiction and prohibiting transactions with US parties. Measures were also taken against several senior Quds officers, including the force's commander Qassem Suleimani. [4]

The Quds Force’s activities are global: it has directorates for Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan; Afghanistan, Pakistan and India; Turkey and the Arabian Peninsula; Asian countries of the former USSR, Western nations (Europe and North America), and North Africa (Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan, and Morocco). [5]

Its global reach was clearly stated by the unit's commander Suleimani, who reportedly said in early 2008: "General Petraeus (then the top US commander in Iraq), you should know that I, Qassem Suleimani, control the policy for Iran with respect to Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, and Afghanistan. And indeed, the ambassador in Baghdad is a Quds Force member. The individual who's going to replace him is a Quds Force member." [6]

The Middle-East

· Iraq

In January 2007, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council decided to place all Iranian operations in Iraq under the command of the Quds Force. At the same time, it increased its personnel strength to 15,000. [7] The last eight years have witnessed a proxy war between the Quds Force and the US military.

In 2007, Gen. David Petraeus testified to the US Congress on the growing role of the Quds Force. He noted that the US had found Quds operatives in Iraq and seized computers with hard drives that included a 22-page document that had details about the planning and conduct of an attack that killed five US soldiers in Karbala. [8]

The same year, Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner, a US military spokesman, asserted that Iran's Quds Force was providing armor-piercing weapons to extremist groups in Iraq, funneling as much as $3 million a month and training Iraqi militiamen at three camps near Tehran. [9]

In June 2011, 15 US servicemen died in Iraq, the highest monthly casualty figure there in more than two years. The US attributed these attacks to Shiite militias trained and armed by the Quds Force. [10]

Recent evidence indicates that these militias are using Iranian materials in "Improvised Rocket-Assisted Munitions" attacks against US troops. The munitions, or IRAMS, are metal canisters packed with explosives and propelled by rockets. IRAMS along with armor-piercing grenades are believed responsible for the majority of US deaths in recent months, an American official said. [11]

· Afghanistan

According to the US Department of the Treasury, the Quds Force "provides select members of the Taliban with weapons, funding, logistics and training." [12]

In December 2010, a member of the Quds Force was captured supplying weapons to the Taliban in Afghanistan for attacks on British and American troops. [13]

In recent months, the Pentagon has traced to Iran the Taliban's acquisition of rockets that give its fighters roughly double the range to attack NATO and US targets. [14]

· Syria

The European Union sanctions announced last Wednesday against the Quds Force represent a direct international accusation that Iran is helping Syria in carrying out a brutal crackdown, which the United Nations says has killed 2,200 since March. [15]

The European Union said in a statement published in its official journal that the Quds Force “provided technical assistance, equipment and support to the Syrian security services to repress civilian protest movements.” [16]

· Hezbollah and Hamas

The US Treasury has stated that the Quds Force "continues to support designated terrorist groups such as Hizballah and Hamas. Hizballah is the largest recipient of Iranian financial aid, training, and weaponry; and Iran's senior leadership has cited Hizballah as a model for other militant groups. Iran also provides training, weapons, and money to Hamas, bolstering the group's ability to maintain its armed resistance and opposition to Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations." [17]

Latin America

According to a US Department of Defense report released in April 2010, recent years have witnessed an increased presence of the Quds Force in Latin America, particularly in Venezuela. [18]

"If US involvement in conflicts in these regions deepens, contact with the IRGC-QF (Quds Force), directly or through extremist groups it supports, will be more frequent and consequential," the report said.

Iran's terrorist infrastructure in Latin America has already been used in the past to launch terrorist attacks, such as the 1992 Israeli Embassy attack and the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires (Amia).

According to the Argentinian prosecutor, Iran's Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, then the head of the Quds Force, "participated in and approved of the decision to attack Amia during a meeting in Iran on August 14, 1993”. [19]

Vahidi is wanted by the Interpol for his involvement in the bombing that killed 85 people and wounded hundreds.

Africa

In October 2010, Nigerian security forces seized an Iranian weapons shipment in the port of Lagos. The arms seizure led to the arrest of a Quds Force officer in Nigeria suspected of facilitating the shipment. [20]

Nigeria reported the incident to the UN last November, as Iran is barred from shipping weapons internationally. [21]

Gambia [22] and Senegal [23] cut ties with Tehran over the incident.

References:

[1] “Europe Accuses Iranian Force of Aiding Syrian Crackdown”, The New York Times, August 24, 2011,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/world/middleeast/25syria.html

[2] “US general: Iran-backed groups biggest Iraq threat”, AP, August 17, 2011
http://www.iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23608:us-general-iran-backed-groups-biggest-iraq-threat&catid=7:iraq&Itemid=29

[3] State Sponsors of Terrorism: http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2010/170260.htm

[4] Fact Sheet: Designation of Iranian Entities and Individuals for Proliferation Activities and Support for Terrorism, October 25, 2007,
http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/hp644.aspx

[5] “Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Al Quds Force, and Other Intelligence and Paramilitary Forces”, Center for Strategic & International Studies, Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy, August 16, 2007,
http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/070816_cordesman_report.pdf

[6] “Qassem Suleimani: the Iranian general 'secretly running' Iraq”, The Guardian, July 28, 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/28/qassem-suleimani-iran-iraq-influence

[7] “Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Al Quds Force, and Other Intelligence and Paramilitary Forces”, Center for Strategic & International Studies, Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy, August 16, 2007,
http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/070816_cordesman_report.pdf

[8] Ibid.

[9]“Iran's Elite Force Is Said to Use Hezbollah as 'Proxy' in Iraq”, The Washington Post, July 2, 2007,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/02/AR2007070200174.html

[10] “Iran Funnels New Weapons to Iraq and Afghanistan”Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2011,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303763404576420080640167182.html

[11] “Official: Militias using Iranian weapons to target U.S. in Iraq”, CNN, July 5, 2011,
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/07/03/iraq.us.militia.attacks/

[12] http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg810.aspx

[13]“Iranian soldier captured in Afghanistan”, The Telegraph, August 31^st, 2011,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8223431/Iranian-soldier-captured-in-Afghanistan.html

[14]“Iran Funnels New Weapons to Iraq and Afghanistan”, The Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2011,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303763404576420080640167182.html

[15] “Europe Accuses Iranian Force of Aiding Syrian Crackdown”, The New York Times, August 24, 2011,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/world/middleeast/25syria.html

[16]“EU releases new Syrian repression blacklist”, EUBusiness, August 24 , 2011,
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/syria-politics-oil.bv8

[17] http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg810.aspx

[18] “Iran's Quds force in Venezuela, Latin America: Pentagon”, AFP, April 22, 2010, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jvXOYLKMt3NWFER4xXMlDPSTmhBw

[19] “Iran anoints anti-Jewish bomb suspect as defence secretary”, The Guardian, September 2, 2009,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/02/iran-vahidi-argentina-jewish-bombing

[20] “Iran and Nigeria Discuss Seized Weapons”, The New York Times, November 11, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/world/africa/12nigeria.html

[21] “Nigeria reports Iran arms seizure to U.N.”, Reuters, Nov. 15, 2010, http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/11/16/us-nigeria-iran-idUSTRE6AE4TU20101116

[22] “Gambia cuts ties with Iran and orders diplomats to go”, BBC, November 23, 2010, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11819143

[23] “Senegal severs ties with Iran over rebel weapons”, Reuters, Feb. 23, 2011,
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE71M01A20110223

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