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Threat Assessment: Iran Tops U.S. List of Terrorism Sponsors By Mike Nartker Patterns of Global Terrorism: 2001 lists Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Cuba, Syria, Libya and Sudan as state sponsors of terrorism. The list has not changed since 1993, when Sudan was added, according to a department release. “While some of these countries appear to be reconsidering their present course, none has yet taken all the necessary actions to divest itself fully of ties to terrorism,” the report says. No. 1: Iran Although Iran has expressed sympathy for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, it remained the main state sponsor of terrorism last year, according to the report. “Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. and Ministry of Intelligence and Security continued to be involved in the planning and support of terrorist acts and supported a variety of groups that use terrorism to pursue their goals,” the report says. Iran has increased its support for militant Islamic and Palestinian groups by providing funds, training, weapons and a base of operations for organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the report says. Iran has also provided lesser support to terrorist groups in Africa, Turkey and Central Asia, it adds. The report also notes that while Iran has not taken any action in its “fatwa,” or death warrant for author Salman Rushdie, it has not called off the decree or canceled an offered bounty. Some within the Iranian government would like to reduce support for terrorism, but hardliners who still control the main mechanisms of government have stopped these efforts, the report says. “Axis of Evil” — Iraq and North Korea Iraq was the only Arab-Muslim country that did not condemn the Sept. 11 attacks, the report says. It has provided bases for several terrorist groups, including the Abu Nidal group and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. In addition, Iraq has also increased contacts with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and has acted as a host for other militant Palestinian groups, the report says. Meanwhile, North Korea’s efforts to fight terrorism have been “disappointing,” the report says. Although North Korea has signed the U.N. Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and has expressed support for signing five other U.N. counterterrorism conventions, it has not conducted significant measures to combat terrorism, the report says. North Korea has not reported any steps to block terrorist financial assets and has continued to harbor members of the Japanese Communist League-Red Army Faction, according to the report. It has also not moved toward renewed dialogue with the United States to improve implementation of the 1994 Agreed Framework, which requires North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons program in exchange for two U.S.-built light-water nuclear reactors (see GSN, May 6). “In light of President [George W.] Bush’s call to recognize the dangerous nexus between weapons of mass destruction and terrorism, this latter failure, with its implications for nuclear development and proliferation, was especially troublesome,” the report says. Cuba In Cuba, efforts to combat terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks have gone back and forth, according to the report. Cuban leader Fidel Castro expressed support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism and signed all 12 U.N. counterterrorism conventions. Castro also did not protest when the United States interned captured suspected terrorists at its naval base at Guantanamo Bay, the report said. Havana, however, has also continued to express its support for terrorism, the report says. “Cuba’s signature of U.N. counterterrorism conventions notwithstanding, Castro continued to view terror as a legitimate revolutionary tactic,” it says. Cuba has provided a safe haven for members of the Basque ETA terrorist group and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and ELN rebel groups, according to the report. Recent information has also indicated an increased possibility that Cuba had connections with the Chilean terrorist group Frente Patriotico Manuel Rodriguez, the report says. U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and Nonproliferation John Bolton recently alleged that Cuba has aided other rogue states and terrorist groups with developing biological weapons. Cuba, however, has denied the U.S. claims (see related GSN story, today). Syria Syria, meanwhile, has not been directly linked to an act of terrorism since 1986, and top Syrian officials, including President Bashar al-Asad, condemned the Sept. 11 attacks, the report says. Syria has, however, provided logistical support and acted as a base of operations for several terrorist groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, according to the report. Syria has also allowed terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and others to operate safely out of the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon and has acted as the main transit point for weapons from Iran to Hezbollah, the report says. Libya and Sudan Out of the seven countries, the report describes Libya and Sudan as doing the most to move past their histories of supporting terrorism. “Sudan and Libya seem closest to understanding what they must do to get out of the terrorism business, and each has taken measures pointing it in the right direction,” the report says. Libya explicitly condemned the Sept. 11 attacks, and while maintaining low-level contacts with some terrorist groups, has tried to recast itself as a mediator in regional conflicts, the report says. Libya’s past links to terrorism, however, have hurt its efforts to rejoin the international community, according to the report. Two criminal trials over the past year illustrated Libya’s connections to acts of terrorism — the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland and the 1996 bombing of a West Berlin discotheque. Several terrorist groups, including Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Egyptian al-Gama’s al-Islamiyaa, continue to use Sudan as a base of operations and still receive logistical and other support, the report says. Nonetheless, the country has increased its counterterrorism efforts since a U.S.-Sudanese dialogue began in 2000, the report says. The country condemned the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and has increased counterterrorism activities, including investigating and arresting possible terrorist suspects.
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