Iran
Preparing a Worldwide Terror Network
by Yaakov Lappin
Special to IPT News
July 2, 2019
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 An Iranian network
of terrorist cells is spread out around the world, ready for activation at
any time as tensions in the Persian Gulf remain high. Threats by the
Islamic Republic to escalate its standoff with the United States mean that
the chances of an Iranian proxy terrorist activation are rising.
Biting American sanctions are causing unprecedented damage to the
Iranian economy. In response, the radical Shi'ite regime has already
provided the world with a sample of its ability to order attacks that destabilize
the Middle East.
Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen recently launched explosive drones and cruise missiles,
targeting Saudi Arabian oil installations and airports. An Iranian-backed
Shi'ite militia in Iraq, Katai'b Hizballah, is suspected of firing rockets at U.S. interests, and
the Islamic Republican Guards Corps (IRGC) launched
mine attacks on civilian oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and the
Gulf of Oman.
These incidents represent a small sampling of Iran's capabilities. The
Iranians have built up a wide-reaching network of radical surrogates which
extends beyond the Middle East. Members of this network range from
hierarchical terror armies like Hizballah, armed with massive arsenals of
projectiles, to sleeper terrorist cells active in Europe, North America,
and Latin America.
Israel, a frontline state that defends itself against Iran and its proxy
network, has taken a lead role in identifying, monitoring, and preventing
attacks, as well as alerting Western intelligence agencies to threats.
Mossad Director Yossi Cohen provided a glimpse into this shadow war in
remarks delivered Monday at the Herzliya Conference. The IRGC and the
Iranian Ministry of Intelligence are responsible for overseas terror
operations, he said.
While the Ministry of Intelligence is responsible for setting up murder
squads targeting Iranian opposition figures abroad, the IRGC, together with
Hizballah, seeks to hit Israeli targets, as well as soft Jewish targets.
This would explain the discovery and recent announcement of a Hizballah bomb
factory in London. It appears highly likely that the bombs were intended
for Hizballah cells intent on attacking Israeli targets in Britain.
In addition, Iran's Ministry of Intelligence activated a European terror
network in June last year, sending it on a bombing mission against an
Iranian opposition event that featured former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
The cell reportedly had half a ton of explosives. In recent
years, Iranian opposition figures were murdered in Turkey and Holland, while another assassination plot in Denmark
and Sweden was thwarted.
"An Iranian diplomat in Vienna headed" the France bomb plot,
Cohen said. "He is now under arrest, and other [members of the cell]
are under arrest in Belgium."
Cohen also said that Iran's overseas operations unit, the Quds Force,
recruited 300 fighters in Iraq and Syria and brought them to Africa to
create a terror network capable of striking Western targets across the
African continent.
Iranian agents gathered "intelligence on the Iranian opposition,
and on Israeli targets in Azerbaijan, the U.S., Denmark – and this is only
the top of the iceberg," Cohen cautioned. "The Mossad and the
Israeli intelligence community are deeply involved in the effort to thwart
these threats before the deaths of innocents occurs. We are working
shoulder to shoulder with other countries to prevent more deaths."
Part of Iran's plans, he said, involved preparing attacks on American
overseas assets.
Iran could also order its network to attack European and Israeli targets
at any time, Cohen warned, noting that Tehran accuses Israel of being
behind the Trump administration's economic pressure campaign. "One of
the easiest ways to do it [strike] is through attacks on Israeli targets in
Europe, and around the world," Cohen said.
Iran has done this before. In 2012, for example, it ordered a wave of
attacks on Israeli targets in Bulgaria, Cyprus, India, and Kenya in
retaliation for a sabotage campaign of its nuclear program that it
attributed to Israel. This included a
suicide bombing attack on a bus of Israeli tourists in Burgas, which
murdered six people.
Past incidents have seen Hizballah operatives scope out Israeli targets in countries as far away as
Peru.
More recently, German domestic security forces noted that Hizballah kept a permanent presence of more than 1,000 operatives
on German soil.
These networks have also penetrated North America, according to a series
of recent reports.
Canadian media revealed last month that a Hizballah operative collected detailed information on
Toronto's Pearson airport in 2017. Canada's Air Transport Security
Authority had reproduced an article about a Hizballah sleeper cell agent named Ali Kourani, who was a member of Hizballah's Unit 910,
an overseas attack unit.
Based in the U.S., Kourani reportedly visited Pearson airport seven
times before being arrested. He also "scouted New York's JFK airport
and U.S government facilities. He passed the results of his surveillance
activities to his Hizballah handler in Lebanon on digital storage devices,"
the report said, as part attack planning surveillance operations.
In May, an American court convicted Kourani of eight counts related to his work as a Hizballah
"deep-cover operative. He is scheduled for sentencing on Sept.
27," Canada's Global News reported.
"Kourani's chilling mission was to help procure weapons and gather
intelligence about potential targets in the U.S. for Hezbollah terrorist
attacks," a U.S. Department of Justice press release said.
Kourani reportedly married a Lebanese-Canadian woman to evade the
intelligence radar. He also befriended a Canadian airport employee, and
talked him into agreeing to carry a bag on-board an aircraft.
Unit 910 was even more active in Canada than in the United States,
Kourani told the FBI. It would likely try to smuggle explosives into the
U.S. from Canada.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the Mossad director revealed that Iran
had transferred $100 million to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
in the Gaza Strip.
Intelligence agencies around the world will need to be on high alert for
Iran's active and lethal international terrorism network.
Yaakov Lappin is a military and strategic affairs correspondent. He
also conducts research and analysis for defense think tanks, and is the
Israel correspondent for IHS Jane's Defense Weekly. His book, The
Virtual Caliphate, explores the online jihadist presence.
Related Topics: Yaakov
Lappin, Iran,
terror
proxies, Katai'b
Hizballah, Strait
of Hormuz, drones,
Yossi
Cohen, Mossad,
Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps, Quds
Force, Burgas
bus bombing, Ali
Kourani
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