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Marine Commander Links 1983 Bomb and 2011 Plot

October 26, 2011 | 4:23pm

The following is an excerpt from testimony by Col. Timothy J. Geraghty, USMC (retired) on Oct. 26 before the Joint Subcommittee Hearing: Iranian Terror Operations on American Soil. Geraghty was commander of the Marine peacekeepers in Lebanon.

             October 23, 2011 marked the twenty-eighth anniversary of the beginning of an asymmetrical war waged by radical Islamists against the United States and its allies. It was on that day in 1983 during the Lebanese civil war that coordinated suicide truck bombings in Beirut killed 241 American peacekeepers under my command, as well as 58 French peacekeepers. These atrocities lead to the withdrawal of the Multinational Force from Lebanon and to major changes in U.S. national policy. Since then, radical Islamism has evolved into the major national security threat to Western civilization.

            Perhaps the most significant development that grew out of the Beirut peacekeeping mission was the ascent of Iran into becoming a major player, not only in the region but also globally…Some of the key leaders who are implementing the Iranian mullahs’ aggressive policies are worth closer scrutiny. Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar, a veteran commander of the 150,000-man IRGC, was named minister of defense in August 2005. In 1983, he was commander of the IRGC contingent in Lebanon and was directly responsible for the Beirut truck bombings.

            [President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad’s fiercely disputed reelection in 2009 also reveals another connection with IRGC in Lebanon. His selection as the new minister of defense, Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, also participated in the 1983 Beirut bombings and later succeeded Najjar as commander of the IRGC contingent. He founded the elite Quds Force of the IRGC, serving as its first commander. He currently is on Interpol’s most wanted list, the Red Notices, for the bombings in Buenos Aires of the Israeli Embassy in 1992 killing twenty-nine and the Jewish Community Cultural Center in 1994 killing eighty-six. Vahidi was linked by the European Union to Iran’s nuclear activities and its development of nuclear weapons delivery systems while overseeing the research and development of WMDs. Vahidi’s assignment and background lays out a bloody roadmap of Iranian intentions. It also provides a deeper understanding as to why Iran has retained the dubious distinction for over a quarter century of being the world’s leading state-sponsor of terrorism…

           The recent Iranian-backed plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States involved a key Quds Force commander linked to the killings of U.S. troops in Iraq. This should come as no surprise. Abdul Reza Shahlai led a group of the Quds Force, within the Iraqi militia of cleric Moqtada al Sadr, dressed as U.S. and Iraqi soldiers, in an assault in Karbala which killed five Americans. According to a U.S. Treasury report, he supplied Sadr’s group with weapons. Shahlai is the cousin of the arrested co-conspirator Manssor Arabsiar, an Iranian American living in Texas. The bizarre plot involved using Mexican drug traffickers to bomb a restaurant in Washington, DC which the Ambassador frequented. The uniqueness of the plot provides some insight to the nature of the asymmetrical threat we face.
 

For the full testimony click here.

 

Tags: IRGC-QF, Plot, U.S. Policy
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Key Dates for Iran's Parliamentary Election

October 26, 2011 | 2:41pm

This is a timeline of the key dates for Iran's Parliamentary Election:
 

    December 24-31, 2011
        Candidate Registration period

    January 1-25, 2012
        Candidate Vetting period
    
    Last week of January
        Official announcement of vetted candidates

    February 22-March 1, 2012
        Official Campaign period

    March 12, 2011
        First Round of Elections

    TBD
        Second Round of Elections

 

 

Tags: Election, Parliament
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Clinton on Iranian Plot

October 20, 2011 | 9:22am
The following is an excerpt from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s interview with NBC’s Today Show on Oct. 12 about Iran’s alleged terrorism plot.
 
 
QUESTION:  Let’s talk about the news of the day, this plot by some members of the Quds Force to take out the Saudi ambassador at a restaurant here in Washington.  How high does this go?  Do we know that the top levels of the Iranian Government were aware of this plot?
 
SECRETARY CLINTON:  Well, first let me add my word of congratulations to our law enforcement and intelligence professionals, who once again have proven their extraordinary professionalism and disrupting this plot, which was a major accomplishment.
 
We think that this was conceived and directed from Tehran.  We know that it goes to a certain level within the Quds Force, which is part of the Revolutionary Guard, which is the military wing of the Iranian Government.  And we know that this was in the making and there was a lot of communication between the defendants and others in Tehran.
 
So we’re going to let the evidence unfold, but the important point to make is that this just is in violation of international norms.  It is a state-sponsored act of terror, and the world needs to speak out strongly against it.
 
QUESTION:  It’s very brazen, as you mentioned, which suggests the Iranians didn’t particularly fear retaliation by the U.S.
 
SECRETARY CLINTON:  Well, I think it’s a little hard to tell what was really going on, why this was given a seal of approval, why there was a go-ahead from Tehran, whether within their military and their government the kinds of the debates and divisions that we are now watching unfold – because it’s difficult to know who is actually making the decisions.  Was this for political purposes?  Was this just a crazy idea that got out of hand?
 
QUESTION:  Do you think the ayatollah ordered it?
 

SECRETARY CLINTON:  We don’t know.  We don’t know and I’m not going to speculate.  But I am going to say that the Iranian Government has to take responsibility, because it was clearly done by, directed by, elements within the Iranian Government. 

Tags: U.S. Policy
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U.S. Comments on U.N. Human Rights Report

October 18, 2011 | 11:02pm

The following is a Press Statement from the State Department on the U.N. Human Rights Report:

We welcome the first interim report by the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in Iran, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, and take note of his assessment regarding the Iranian government’s “pattern of systemic violation” of its citizens’ rights. The UN Secretary General’s report on Iran’s human rights situation also described an “intensified” campaign of abuses.

Under international law and its own constitution, Iran has committed to protect and defend the rights of its people, but officials continue to stifle all forms of dissent, persecute religious and ethnic minorities, harass and intimidate human rights defenders, and engage in the torture of detainees.
 
Iran’s brutal repression continues unabated despite repeated international condemnation and increasing isolation: opposition leaders Mir-Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, now entering their ninth month under house arrest without charges, are being held virtually incommunicado, while journalists and student activists are targeted for their “anti-regime” activities. Dr. Shaheed and the Secretary General both expressed alarm over the growing use of the death penalty for minor crimes, against minors and without due process.
We are particularly concerned that Iran has ignored its UN obligations and refused to cooperate with Dr. Shaheed. We call upon Iran’s government to allow the Special Rapporteur immediate access to the country.
 
We note that Iran has refused entry for any UN Special Rapporteur since 2005 in a blatant attempt to prevent the world from bearing witness to the abuses against its own people.
The United States stands by the Iranian people, who wish nothing more than to make their voices heard and hold their government accountable for its actions. We call upon the international community to use the occasion of these reports to redouble its condemnation of Iran’s disgraceful abuse of the human rights of all its citizens and demand a change.
 

 

Tags: Human Rights, U.S. Policy, UN Report
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Iran’s Massive Banking Scandal

October 16, 2011 | 11:16pm
Kevan Harris
 
 
  • What’s the origin of the Islamic Republic’s biggest banking scandal?
 
The financial conglomerate Amir Mansour Arya Investment Development Company allegedly procured several letters of credit from domestic banks totaling $2.8 billion--far above the company’s available collateral.  The Arya Group, founded by Amir Mansour Khosravi and now controlled by his son Mah-Afarid, controlled around $3.8 billion in assets, including 52 companies with 20,000 workers.
 
After obtaining falsified letters of credit from a branch of Saderat (Export) Bank in Ahvaz, the Arya Group allegedly used them to obtain even more financing from several other banks including Saman, Sepah, and Melli Bank; Melli is Iran’s oldest national bank.  Arya Group is also accused of using its own companies as shell organizations to misrepresent the value of the entire Group.  It reportedly then used the promised loans from multiple banks to bid on recently privatized companies as well as set up its own financial institution, Arya Bank. 
 
There are several layers of alleged corruption, embezzlement and fraud in this case.  The original letters of credit from Saderat Bank were issued without a required waiting and evaluation period; bank officials allegedly may have been taking bribes.  Melli Bank and other banks reportedly did not check the validity of the letters when issuing their own loans to the Arya Group.  The government’s Money and Credit Council was either lax in oversight or overtly supportive of the loans. Critics of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claim the council was packed with supporters of the president’s closest aide, Rashim Esfandiar Mashaei. Finally, the Central Bank allegedly failed to monitor these transactions and prevent abuse.
 
The government took possession of Arya Group’s assets and companies in September, which at least temporarily prevented the layoff of 20,000 workers. But full recovery of the $2.8 billion, just under one percent of Iran’s annual GDP, is still uncertain.
 
  • What impact will this have on Iranian politics, especially Present Ahmadinejad and his inner circle?
 
The political fallout increases almost daily.  The directors of Saderat Bank and Melli Bank resigned in late September.  Melli’s director, who has dual citizenship, fled to Canada.  Dozens of banking officials have been arrested and questioned.  Members of parliament discussed the possible impeachment of Minister of Economy Shamsoddin Hosseini.  Central Bank Governor Mahmoud Bahmani cannot be impeached since he has a presidential appointment, but members of parliament have called for his resignation.
 
But even if Ahmadinejad contains the short-term damage, the scale of this scandal dwarfs all earlier corruption scandals during the presidencies of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami. It also stains the president’s attempt to portray himself as an incorruptible politician fighting a crooked system. 
 
  • What role has Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei played in the reaction to the scandal?
 
Ayatollah Khamenei is once again stuck arbitrating deep factional strife among Iran’s political elite.  He has publicly vowed that the perpetrators would be tracked down and severely punished.  But he has also demanded an end to the mud-slinging among conservative critics and the president’s supporters.
 
Since the presidential election in 2009, Iranian has been plagued by an unrelenting cycle: clashes among conservatives, Khamenei calls for unity, temporary lulls in the battle, and then renewed discord at more intense levels.  For all the supreme leader’s powers, he has been unable to get supposedly loyal followers to fall into line.
 
  • What are the economic implications of this bank scandal?
 
The Arya Group’s purported scam is a perfect storm for Iran’s economy for two reasons:
 
First, Ahmadinejad forced domestic banks to offer certain types of loans at interest rates lower than the rate of inflation—an unusual but not unwarranted practice under some circumstances for developing countries. But without oversight, the practice can produce speculation and fraud, since people with connections can procure money essentially for free and spend it on profitable activities outside the formal banking system.
 
Banks were eager to lend money to the Arya Group without much oversight because it promised higher profits in an economic climate where banks are forced to hand out loans that are technically guaranteed to lose money.  As a result, Ahmadinejad’s recent loan policy has indirectly produced usury and wasteful speculation by middlemen – both supposedly illegal in the Islamic Republic.
 
Second, Iran’s government has been selling off public enterprises at fire-sale prices over the past four years.  Profitable companies have often been sold to big pension funds, conglomerates with government ties, and other institutional investors.  Ahmadinejad boasts that his privatization program succeeded in shrinking government, but the practice has actually increased corruption through murky transfer of these companies.
 
Corruption linked to privatization is not unique to Iran.  In the 1990s, Russia and China transferred many public companies to former government officials.  Similarly, Iran’s privatization program under Ahmadinejad is producing a new class of owners who, while often dependent on government connections, pursue profit largely by gaming the system.  The Arya Group would not have been able to build up 52 companies so quickly over the past several years if not for these opportunities.
 
The Islamic Republic will pay a price whatever course the government takes. If the Iranian judiciary actually exposes the full details of high-level corruption, the government stands to lose further legitimacy even among loyal cadres.  Yet if the state does nothing, strife among political factions could deepen, undermining attempts to implement policy changes that could address the country’s many social and economic ills.
 
Kevan Harris, who last visited Iran in June, is a 2011-12 Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace.  He also blogs at “The Thirsty Fish."
 

 

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Tags: Bank scandal, Corruption
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The Islamists Are Coming

The Islamists Are Coming, edited by Robin Wright, surveys the rise of Islamist groups in the wake of the Arab Spring. Often lumped together, the more than 50 Islamist parties with millions of followers now constitute a whole new spectrum—separate from either militants or secular parties. They will shape the new order in the world’s most volatile region more than any other political bloc. Yet they have diverse goals and different constituencies. Sometimes they are even rivals.

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