State-sponsored terrorism has been a cause for worry for quite a long time now. Since the late twentieth century, terror has been the epitome of most Middle Eastern states, and now it remains a cause for alarm especially in European and Western countries. Indiscriminate terror affects all sectors of a country and subsequently disrupts its functionality. Therefore, state-sponsored terrorism refers to the governments’ support of extremely violent terrorist groups in an attempt to further their agendas. As such, governments who engage in acts that support the activities of terror groups are effectively state sponsors of terrorism and are viewed as a threat to global peace and security. Iran’s sponsorship and use of terrorist delegations all over the Middle East is a well-known fact that has been documented for a while now. Not only is its reach in the Middle East, but it is also a key player in the instability of regions such as Central Asia and South America. Iran has supported various terror groups. Presently, it is regarded as the number one sponsor of terrorist activities in the world. The country continues to pursue her policy of terrorist sponsorship despite innumerable condemnation internationally. To aggravate issues further, Iran has been known as being an overall objector of progress within the Middle East, and unless highly effective policies are put in place to deter its terror activities and bring it into compliance, Iran will continue to muscle its effect on the region and this will prove detrimental to world peace.
From the occurrence of the Islamic Revolution, Iran has exceedingly accorded various forms of support to a variety of terrorist organizations and for a number of reasons. Some of the consequences of such policies have been dire and have led to endless insecurity and the overall disruption of the peace process. Not only has Iran exemplified this ideology in all regions of the Middle East, Central and South America, it has also exercised its power using this groups. Such actions have led to the overall delay in the peace process of the Middle East and have led to a resultant disruption in the peace process. This is so due to its policy that largely opposes developmental progress in other regions of the Middle East other than itself (Manni, 2012). The Iranian government, in their quest for state-sponsored support, wants to maintain an air of superiority in the region that makes them the sole policy implementers and manipulator of political discourse. Among Iran’s terrorist allies are terror organizations such as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Hamas, and the infamous Hizballah. The aforementioned terror organizations rely heavily on the support of Iran to accomplish their terror agendas. In 2010 onwards, Iran remained to be the number one sponsor of terror in the world. During this time, the country became an active participant in numerous terror campaigns all over the world. According to the United States Department of State Country Report in 2010, Iran provided material, financial and logistical support to various known international organizations. This in turn had direct impacts to the international peace accord and prospects, the economic stability of the Gulf region, and consequently undermined the democratic progress of the region.
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The active support of armed terror networks by Iran takes numerous forms. Its sponsorship of such organizations is unique in that Iran does very little to hide its activities. While countries like Pakistan go about their operations in a clandestine manner and fervidly deny any and all involvement in matters that render them associates with terrorists, Iran seems not to care and embraces this ideology, which in turn leads to more allegiance from other terror networks. In Iran, the active support of terror networks is primarily the job of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). This force is normally tasked with the promotion and exportation of the revolution to radical groups based particularly in the Middle East (Manni, 2012). In their policy to support terror organizations openly, Iran has on several occasions voiced its support for such groups like the Hizballah. In doing so, Iran has expressed the use of violence on civilians a necessary discourse for achieving political gains. This is particularly disturbing and continues to wreak havoc not only to peace in the Middle Eastern region but also all over the world. It is worth noting that in conflict areas such as Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran continues to offer various kinds of support to insurgent groups (Kagan, Kimberly, & Danielle, 2008).
Iran has copious strategic goals that favor their support for terrorist organizations. One is the overall underpinning of long-standing rivals such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. For centuries now, Iran has used terror organizations and insurgent groups to weaken opposing governments
calculably. Another strategy is power projection, in which by wanting to hide the actual economic struggle of its country, Iran works with terrorists to influence events that take place far from its borders effectively. This is primarily exemplified with the support of Houthis youth to weaken the southern border of Saudi Arabia. Another reason for the use of terror networks is that Iran acts as a spoiler to peace negotiations and has disrupted such negotiations for quite a long time. Ranging from the Israeli-Palestinian to the Israeli-Syrian peace talks, Iran has often meddled in these concessions through employing the use of insurgent groups. Through intimidation, Iran imposes on its neighbors the policy of viewing the United States of America as an enemy and a threat to the overall political stability of the region. Such strategies and motives usually backfire as Iran is seen as an intruding force in the domestic affairs of these countries and the overall peace and stability since it promotes violence. Other inherent motives include deterrence, in that, through the constant threat of terror retaliation, other states eventually become demotivated to make any significant military advances on Iran.
The motivations of Iran’s support of terror activities and organizations are quite numerous and stem from different aspects. Initially, their motivations were purely ideological, but over time, this has changed to reflect other motivations as well. In the wake of the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, one vocal leader, Ayatollah Khomeini made a declaration that Iran should do its level best to export the revolution to the entire world. Such sentiments are expressed in various documents of key organizations such as the IRGC. These ideological motives are evident in Iran’s support of the Lebanese terror group Hizballah, which has been christened on several occasions as perhaps the world most capable terror group. A brief history indicates that Iran created the group in 1980 and since then has armed and trained its members to the degree that they now pose a direct threat to the welfare of most Middle Eastern states. Assistance to this group is on a massive and unprecedented scale and at one time saw Hizballah receive over $100 million every year. These figures are purported to be rough estimates, and intelligence reveals that there could be the possibility of much higher forms of financial aid. Iran also finances other terrorist organizations in employing their strategy of furthering their political and economic agendas.
Aside from financial aid, Iran provides weaponry support and advanced logistical support for such organizations a good example being the Hizballah. At one time, the military aid to this terror group included cutting-edge weaponry such as anti-ship cruise missiles, anti-tank rounds, and weapons, as well as hundreds of thousands of various rocket and artillery systems. This consequently made Hizballah among the most formidable terror organizations in the world. Similar to weapon provisions, Iran also provides logistical support. This kind of aid comes from the various utility trucks and convoys. In addition, the reason why Hizballah operatives are highly skilled is the training support they get from Iran. The intelligence wing of the Iranian government works in close collaboration with these militants and equips them with the necessary combat knowledge and operational assistance. Additionally, the paramilitary wing of the Iranian military works closely with terror organizations in the form of training and as close peers. Politically, the loyalty of Hizballah rests with the Supreme Leader of Iran inasmuch as they have their support base in Lebanon. With the ideological loyalty of this group coupled with the financial capabilities and support of Iran, Hizballah has managed to create a turbulence of terror in the whole region of the Middle East.
In conclusion, recent spates of attacks continue to be linked with the Iranian-supported group Hizballah. Such attacks include the deliberate targeting of Israeli and Western interests. In 2013, for example, Hizballah operatives were linked to plots to bomb an Israeli shipping company and the USAID offices in Nigeria. In 2014, the operatives were arrested in Peru for planning an attack on Jewish and Israeli government targets (Byman, 2015). The last and most formidable Iranian terror attack on the U. S. outside the theater of war was made in 1996 when a strike killed 19 Americans in Khobar Towers (Byman, 2015). Overall, the threat of state-sponsored terrorism is quite real with far reaching consequences. Therefore, incentives to make people aware and to reduce its overall influence are of utmost significance.
References
Byman, D. (2015). State Sponsor of Terror: The Global Threat of Iran . Presentation, Georgetown University.
Kagan, F., Kimberly, K., & Danielle, P. (2008). Iranian Influence in the Levant, Iraq, and Afghanistan (1st ed.). Washington: American Enterprise Institute.
Manni, N. (2012). Iran’s Proxies: State Sponsored Terrorism in the Middle East. Global Security Studies , 3 (3). 34-45.
