Several reports have dwelled on Iranian backed infiltration into the US. Some of the reports deal with soft-power quiet infiltration in the academic field. Others deal with the hard-core recruitment of Hezbollah agents for the planning of terrorist attacks or illicit activity. Both demonstrate the fact that Iran does not sit idle.
Only recently, an Iranian infiltration to US universities was reported, and termed by the washingtontimes an “infiltration to fear“. In reference to the link exposed from the Alavi foundation to “curious grants”, given to Ivy League academic institutions in the US, and to pro-Iranian professors. Rep. Dan Donovan called on the federal authorities to investigate these ties between these pro-Iranian foundations and American academic institutions. But that is only the soft side of Iranian penetration. It gets worse.
There have been a few documented cases of Hezbollah affiliated operatives arrested on US soil for plotting terrorist attacks or illicit activities. Ali Kourani, naturalized US citizen from Lebanon, was arrested early June by the FBI in the Bronx, for plotting attacks on behalf of Hezbollah, against US government and military targets in New York City. Among his planned targets was Kennedy airport in New York. Samer el Debek, naturalized US citizen, of Michigan, was arrested and charged for surveillance efforts in the planning of attacks against US, Israeli and Panamanian targets, in the US and Panama. Both of the above cases were reported by the Wall Street Journal in an article titled Hezbollah in the Bronx. Fox News stated feds say “Iran backed militia recruited agents in the US”. Fadi Yassine, of Cedar Rapids in Iowa, of Lebanese origin, was arrested for colluding in trafficking firearms to the Hezbollah in Lebanon. As detailed in the United States Attorney’s office edict he was officially charged with “conspiring to violate the Arms Export Control Act”. He was the fifth person arrested in the context of the scheme to smuggle arms to Lebanon.
The nationalinterest published a paper termed Hezbollah has been active in America for decades, claiming that these arrests should come as no surprise, as the Hezbollah has been engaged in a wide range of illicit and menacing activities on US soil for decades. Among these illicit activities are money laundering, counterfeiting, setting up fraud networks, fundraising for radical causes, cyber related malicious activity and more.
When the Chairman of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission speaks to the Iranian Tasnim News Agency warning that Iran has multiple options for countering the US, perhaps his words should not be taken lightly. Apparently, these are not unfounded empty threats. The above mentioned should serve as a warning that should tensions grow between Iran and the USA, in Middle East related matters or others, Tehran might possess the ability to strike at US interests, even in the US.
Filed under: Iranian Foreign Relations, Iranian Politics, Media Coverage, Military
