World Threats

Two individuals linked to the Al-Qaeda network in Iran have been arrested in Canada, foiling a plot to derail a train from New York to Toronto. Though Canadian officials and media reports emphasize that there’s no evidence tying the Iranian regime to the plot, the Obama Administration confirmed in 2011 that Iran and Al-Qaeda had a “secret deal.”

“The individuals were receiving support from Al-Qaeda elements located in Iran,” said Royal Canadian Mounted Police official James Malizia.

An anonymous U.S. official influenced press coverage by telling Reuters that the Iranian regime does not protect the Al-Qaeda network in its territory. The official apparently believes the Iranian regime is capable of preventing another Green Revolution but is somehow unable to round up an Al-Qaeda network that the U.S. government has publicly identified.

Click here to read the rest of my article.

The Irshad Islamic Center (ILC), established in 2000 in greater Chicago, has finished a three-year struggle where the Zoning Board of Appeals twice voted against approving the mosque. A judge reversed the decision, approving the use of a building purchased by the organization. The ILC has received funding from the Alavi Foundation, which has been accused of being an Iranian government front.

In 2009, federal prosecutors accused the Iranian government of using the Alavi Foundation to channel funds to its Bank Melli, an institution subject to international sanctions because of its links to Iran’s nuclear program.  Its president, Farshid Jahedi, was indicted for destroying evidence needed by a grand jury. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office investigations chief, Adam Kaufmann, said, “We found evidence that the government of Iran really controlled everything about the foundation.”

Click here to read the entire article.

Authorities in Bahrain and Nigeria have foiled planning terrorist attacks on behalf of Iran this week. Government targets were to be attacked in Bahrain, while U.S., Israeli and Jewish sites were targeted in Nigeria.

First, on Wednesday, Nigerian authorities arrested a suspected three-man terror cell. Its leader, Abdullahi Mustapha Berende, is believed to have been trained in Iran and tasked with gathering intelligence on hotels and public places attended by Americans and Israelis. The cell had plans to attack the Lagos office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, an Israel-based company and a Jewish cultural site. They also sought to assassinate former dictator Ibrahim Babangida and a former senior Muslim leader.

Click here to read the rest of my article.

The attention on Iran is always about the “red line” its nuclear program cannot be permitted to cross, but there’s another “red line” it is crossing with impunity: The deliberate murder of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Americans are quick to say they “support the troops” but in Afghanistan, their Iranian murderers are rarely mentioned in the media or by officials.

In August, the Iranian regime brazenly permitted the Taliban to officially open an office in the eastern part of the country and to even operate in Tehran. About one month earlier, discussions about providing surface-to-air missiles began. In late May, a member of the Taliban’s Quetta Shura Council set up shop in the Al-Qaeda dwelling spot of Zahedan. The Taliban were also invited to a September conference in Tehran about the “Islamic Awakening,” the Islamist description of the Arab Spring.

This is nothing new. This has been allowed to go on for 11 years.

Click here to read the rest of my RadicalIslam.org article.

On October 18, The Obama Administration again confirmed that the Shi’ite Iranian regime is working with the Sunni-Salafist Al-Qaeda terrorist group when the Treasury Department blacklisted two Al-Qaeda leaders operating in Iran. In July 2011, the administration revealed that Iran had struck a “secret deal” with Al-Qaeda, blowing apart the myth that the hostility between Sunni and Shi’ite Islamists precludes them from helping each other fight a common enemy.

The Treasury Department sanctioned two Al-Qaeda operatives in Iran: Muhsin al-Fadhil, the leader of the network there, and Adel Radi Saqr al-Wahabi al-Harbi. David S. Cohen, the Treasury Department’s Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, describes the Iran-based network as “critically important” to Al-Qaeda operations and he stated that Iran permits its existence. The Obama Administration has repeatedly stated that Iran and Al-Qaeda work together, as chronicled by the Long War Journal.

Click here to read the rest of my RadicalIslam.org article.

In early April, I wrote that the senior U.S. officials who told Mark Perry of Foreign Policy that Azerbaijan agreed to let Israeli aircraft land in its territory could have blood on their hands, since regardless of whether the leaked story was true or not, Iran would send a warning shot towards Azerbaijan.

Only days after the story was published, Azerbaijan arrested 17 Al-Qaeda operatives with links to Iran as they were about to carry out terrorist attacks. One Azeri officer was killed and three were wounded during the sweep.

Mark Perry’s article was published on March 28. On April 6, Azerbaijan announced the arrests and said that the Al-Qaeda terrorists were planning to attack police, mosques and shrines. Some had undergone two months of training in Iran and were armed there. Others were indoctrinated in Syria and still others had been trained in Pakistan and had fought NATO troops in Afghanistan. Already in February, European officials warned that Iran and Al-Qaeda were tightening their relationship in order to carry out attacks on common enemies.

Although it can’t be proven that Iran had a direct role in the Al-Qaeda plot, the timing points to it. We know that in January, Iran paid at least two terrorists $150,000 to attack the Israeli ambassador, a rabbi and a teacher at a Jewish school in Azerbaijan. The cell leader met with Iranian intelligence. In March, Azerbaijan rounded up 22 terrorists that were trained near Tehran by the Revolutionary Guards to carry out a wave of terror attacks that were to include the U.S. and Israeli embassies, among other targets. Iranian hackers struck Azeri websites after the arrests.

Click here to read the rest of my post at RadicalIslam.org.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has dispatched members of his elite Quds Force’ Unit 400 to Turkey to carry out attacks on Jewish, Israeli and Western sites, reports Sky News. The news outlet’s intelligence sources say the terror plots are “in a very advanced stage, and that the intention is to act on the plans very soon.”

The sources also identified a specific Unit 400 operative that they believe “has been working up plans for potential attacks in Europe countries.” It was reported in February that Iran had teamed up with Al-Qaeda for a “spectacular attack,” possibly in Europe. A member of an Al-Qaeda cell that was arrested in 2010 on his way to carry out attacks in Europe, Ahmad Wali Siddiqui, said last week during his trial that Iran is working with the terrorist group.

Click here to read the rest of my post at RadicalIslam.org.

Former Pakistani army officer Shaukat Qadir has written the most detailed account yet of Bin Laden’s life inside his Abbottabad compound and how he avoided detection since 9/11. One overlooked detail jumped out at me because it supports a story about Osama Bin Laden going to Iran to meet with top officials.

Bin Laden’s youngest wife, Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, toldher Pakistani interrogators that during his first few years in northwestern Pakistan, he shaved his beard and tried to look like a Pashtun elder.

In his 2005 book, Shadow War, Richard Miniter talks about two former Iranian intelligence officers who have provided accurate information in the past. They told him that Bin Laden entered Iran on July 26, 2002 and personally saw him near Tehran on October 23, 2003. Bin Laden had trimmed his beard and wore a black turban, similar to an Iranian cleric. As far as I know, this is the only alleged sighting of Bin Laden to say that his beard was trimmed down and changed his outfit to look like a cleric, a description similar to what al-Sadah said.

Al-Sadah also said that during this time Bin Laden crossed back into Afghanistan and then met back up with her in Pakistan in 2004. This is exactly what the two officers said happened. Bin Laden “moved freely with and crossed into Afghanistan at will, usually through an Iranian border checkpoint near Zabol.” This is important because the conventional wisdom was that Bin Laden would not dare re-enter Afghanistan after it was invaded.

There is one other piece of supporting evidence to add. Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, famous for being the only journalist to interview Bin Laden after 9/11, was told by his contacts close to the Al-Qaeda chief in July 2002 that if he wanted another interview, he’d have to go to Iran. This lines up with what the two officers said.

Ken Timmerman wrote in his 2006 book, Countdown to Crisis, that he had sources with “direct knowledge” of a meeting between Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and top Iranian leaders in late 2004. The two Al-Qaeda leaders wore turbans and looked like Iranian clerics, as Miniter’s own sources told him. Bin Laden looked “frail and old” “an intravenous tube was strapped to the back of bin Laden’s hand.”

You can read my thorough reports on Bin Laden’s possible visits to Iran after 9/11 here andhere. You can also read a detailed story by John Loftus about how the U.S. might have missed an opportunity to kidnap Bin Laden in Iran by ignoring a tip-off from a falcon smuggler by clicking here.

Click here to read my original post at RadicalIslam.org.

Editor’s Note: Right now, the authorities believe this was the work of a single gunman, likely with a neo-Nazi ideology. An anonymous writer who reads this site submitted the following post to offer a few reasons as to why an Iranian role should be looked at.

The horrific March 19 attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse, France, where the killer rode a motorcycle and specifically chased after Jewish kids, was seen immediately as the work of a Muslim extremist, individual or group. The attack has been linked to another attack on French paratroopers whose unit served in Afghanistan. These paratroopers have a North African background, causing some to suspect that the culprits were neo-Nazis (or something similar) that are both anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim.

Former chief of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, Danny Yatom said that if these were terrorist attacks, Iran or Hezbollah are the most likely suspects. As ABC News reports, Yaton said that “assailants prefer Jewish civilian targets because they are easier to hit than Israeli ones.”

There are some other things to note:

1. Deceit (Taqiyya).
It wouldn’t be a far fetched idea to fathom that Hezbollah, which began its “career” as a deceitful group, in masking its terror-attacks (in the 1980s) under different names, such as Islamic jihad, and has a history of almost never admitting to its crimes. Moreover, Hezbollah (like Palestinian-Arab Hamas) who routinely use civilian Arab population as pawns to tarnish Israel’s name (Experts say that Hamas’ use of civilians as human shields was actually inspired by Hezbollah), might even have murdered the Arab paratroopers, thus catching two birds at once. Killing “anti-Islamic” so-called “colonial” French soldiers, and blurring any clear exposure, by throwing in a suspicion of a “far-right” element, as a ploy.

2. Motorcycle attacks
The common Motorcycle theme, as in Iranian/Hezbollah attack in Bangkok on February, in trying to send a “message” reply to a January motorcycle attack on a nuclear scientist, which the Islamic Republic blamed on Israel.

3. Global Jewish targets
In 2008, Hezbollah renewed its jihad on ‘Global Jewish targets‘ It also comes around the 20th anniversary of Iran/Hezbollah attack on Israeli embassy in Argentina. Add to it the February warning by Iran/Hezbollah to attack global Jewish targets, you get a whole Iranian Hezbollah monstrous attack, in a “complex” cloak, trying to hide under an anti-Jewish “non-Islamic” mask.

Anti-Jewish blind hatred: Hezbollah has been more open about admitting its Islamofascistic anti-Jewish hatred. In 2002, Nasrallah said “if they (Jews) all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.” So is the “apes and pigs” dehumanization, so rapid in its al-Manar hate-media, banned in US/European countries.

In conclusion, an Iranian/Hezbollah hand might be behind these attacks. They may have directly carried them out or teamed up with local extremists as cover. And remember, it wasn’t that long ago that it was reported that Iran and Al-Qaeda had teamed up to carry out “spectacular” terrorism in the West and they thought Europe was the most likely target.

Another Iranian-sponsored terror plot was stopped on Wednesday, March 14. The authorities in Azerbaijan arrested 22 people (yes, 22!) involved in an Iranian Revolutionary Guards plot to attack the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Baku. Azerbaijan was previously targeted by Iran in February and in 2008.

The Washington Post reports:

Automatic assault rifles, grenades, ammunition, explosives were seized during the group’s arrest, officials said.

Planned targets included diplomatic missions, the offices of a Jewish organization, the local headquarters of international oil giant BP and an American-themed fast food restaurant.

Just one day prior to these arrests, the Azerbaijani Defense Minister was in Iran to cool tensions after Azerbaijan concluded an arms deal with Israel. Immediately after the meeting, the Defense Minister publicly promised that his country’s land would “[not] be used against Iran under any conditions.”

On March 6, the Saudi ambassador to Bangladesh was mysteriously shot to death. It is reasonable to assume that Iran was involved based on the pattern of its latest activities and its previous targeting of Saudi ambassadors.

How many more of these is it going to take for the world to realize that we are in the middle of an Iranian terror offensive?

Let’s recap:

In October, the U.S. stopped the Iranians from killing the Saudi ambassador in Washington D.C. by blowing up a restaurant he was eating at. The cell also discussed attacking the Saudi and Israeli embassies in D.C. and Buenos Aires.

In November, a wave of Iranian-backed attacks in Bahrain, with the Saudi embassy being one target, was stopped.

In January, a plot probably aimed at Israeli tourists in Thailand was stopped.

On February 13, the wife of an Israeli diplomat is injured in a bombing in India and an attack on an Israeli diplomat in Georgia is stopped at the last moment.

On February 14, an Iranian throws grenades in Thailand after an accidental explosion occurs in the home of his terror cell that was to attack the Israeli embassy.

In mid-February, reports were published about a joint Iranian-Al-Qaeda “spectacular” terrorist operation against the West, possibly in Europe.

On February 21, Azerbaijan busted a terror cell that included a member of the Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force that was going to attack foreigners.

On March 6, the Saudi ambassador to Bangladesh is assassinated.

On March 14, a wave of plots in Azerbaijan is foiled.

What’s next?

A Kuwaiti newspaper has broken the story that yet another Iranian-orchestrated, Hezbollah-implemented terrorist plot was foiled this week. A cell of three terrorist operatives was arrested in Singapore as Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was visiting the country. They were planning on killing him in his hotel.

The ADD of the West, especially its media, is making it miss a point I made in a recent column I wrote on this website titled, Iran’s Recent Terror Assault Barely News ,Iran is becoming more and more aggressive as its nuclear program advances and as international pressure increases.

Click here to read the rest of my RadicalIslam.org blog.

Four developments this week make it clear that we are in the midst of an Iranian terror offensive that began in the fall. First, there were three Iranian-orchestrated attacks on Israeli diplomats in India, Georgia and Thailand. And then came a chilling headline: “Fears Iran Helping Al-Qaida for ‘Spectacular’ Attack.”

The astonishingly small reaction to that news story shows just how far we’ve come since 9/11. You would have been called overly cynical if, in October 2001, you said that in February 2012, there’d be almost no reaction to a news story about two of our worst enemies working together for a “spectacular” attack on the West, one of which is close to having nuclear weapons. Yet, that sorry state of mind is exactly where we find ourselves.

An intelligence source unequivocally told the British press, “We do know that an operation is under way.” Verifying the source claim is an intelligence memo that discusses Iran’s “improvement of operational and intelligence ties with the al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan in recent months.” This includes training in explosives. Ayman al-Zawahiri is reportedly working on an operation involving simultaneous terror attacks and British intelligence believes that Europe is the most likely target.

Click here to read the rest of my FSM column.

Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer says that there must be “increased scrutiny” of Iran’s diplomats at the United Nations in the wake of the three Iranian-sponsored terrorist actions last week. He wrote a public letter to Secretary of State Clinton warning her that Iranian “diplomats” can actually be members of the Revolutionary Guards or Ministry of Intelligence and Security sent to carry out acts of terrorism.

In 2004, the U.S. kicked out two Iranian security guards at the U.N. after they were caught videotaping the State of Liberty, bridges, tourist attractions and a subway despite warnings from the U.S. that it is not permitted. The State Department said this was the third time that it had to expel Iranian security guards for doing this kind of thing, with the two previous incidents happening in June 2002 and November 2003.

Already in the 1980s’, Jack Anderson revealed how Khomeini’s “terrorists are masquerading as Iranian diplomats, with diplomatic credentials and immunity,” in order to carry out attacks on its enemies.

In Venezuela, there is a serious Iranians are not required to get visas. Hugo Chavez is linked to anti-Colombian FARC terrorists that are working with Hezbollah.

Iranian diplomats are also used to penetrate U.S.-friendly countries like Panama and Costa Rica. A few years back, there was an alert in Costa Rica when Iranian “diplomats” tried to cross the border from Nicaragua, which has been sometimes referred to as the Iranian northern border of Costa Rica.

Al-Qaeda’s leadership is about to be replenished, thanks to Syria and Iran. Everyone knows about the Al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan that is being decimated by drones. Almost no one knows about the Al-Qaeda Shura Council in Iran that has operated there since at least 2001 in a limited manner due to the restrictions of its hosts.

Iran just loosened the chains on its Al-Qaeda guests, allowing the skilled leaders to leave the country if necessary to help revitalize the terrorist group. At least five top Al-Qaeda officials who have been in Iran since 2003 on a relaxed form of house arrest have been given money and cars and more freedom. Terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman says that this is “one of their best hopes of reviving themselves.”

The 5 leaders are:

• Saif al-Adel, mentioned as a possible successor to Osama Bin Laden and a top operations chief.
• Abu al-Khayr al-Masri, a member of the Shura Council that was Bin Laden’s inner circle.
• Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, an overall manager for the group.
• Abu Hafs al-Mauritani, an extremist cleric.
• Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a spokesman and fundraiser.

At just about the same time, Syria released a top Al-Qaeda leader, Abu Musab al-Suri and his senior aide, Abu Khalid. Al-Suri led Al-Qaeda terrorist operations in Europe, specifically the 2005 London bombings and the 2004 Madrid bombings.

The news of these releases reminded me of something that Ayatollah Khamenei said on February 3 at a prayer service. He said that Iran would “support and help any nations, any groups fighting against the Zionist regime across the world, and we are not afraid of declaring this.”

This sentence may or may not be directly connected to Iran’s decision to give more freedom to these Al-Qaeda leaders, but it is reflective of the overall attitude of the Iranian regime. It can condemn groups it has theological and political disagreements with but if they have common enemies, it doesn’t matter to Iran. They are worthy of support.

This line in his speech was overshadowed by his remark that Israel is a “cancerous tumor” that “will definitely be cut off” (a line that the New York Times forgot to mention in its coverage of his speech).

Just one day after two terrorist actions took place in Georgia and India targeting Israeli diplomats, almost certainly orchestrated by Iran and Hezbollah, a third attack took place in Bangkok, Thailand by a grenade-throwing Iranian. It was only a few weeks ago that an Iranian-backed terror plot in Bangkok was foiled, so it is reasonable to assume that this Iranian was part of that cell.

Today’s attacks began when an accidental explosion happened at a house inhabited by three Iranians, destroying the roof. One of the injured Iranians ran from the house and tried to get a taxi and threw a grenade at the vehicle when it didn’t take him. The police showed up and he threw a grenade at them, but somehow blew off his leg.

The Thai police raided the house and found more explosives. A second Iranian was arrested as he tried to fly out of the country and a third, also wounded, is on the loose. The Iranians admitted they were going to attack the Israeli embassy in Bangkok. Israel accuses the Iranian regime of being behind the operation.