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Iran's Support for Terrorism in the Middle East

(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Matthew Levitt - Iran, the world's most active state sponsor of terrorism, has employed an aggressive foreign policy that relies heavily on clandestine assets abroad to collect intelligence and support foreign operations. Exposing Iran's involvement in international terrorism is now more important than ever, both to deny the group its coveted "reasonable deniability" and to build an international consensus for action against Iran's support for terrorism. In light of Iran's long-standing use of diplomatic equities to support international terrorism, Washington should press its allies to restrict the size of Iranian missions to the minimum needed to conduct official business, restrict visits by Iranian officials to official business only (no meetings with sympathizers, no speeches, etc.), and exercise diligence about the possibility that nondiplomatic Iranian travelers connected to the Iranian government may be engaged in illegal activities. From testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 25. The writer is director of The Washington Institute's Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.
2012-07-26 00:00:00
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