The Covert War Against Iran

Mike Scruggs

Ever since President Barrack Obama announced a sizable reduction in American forces in Iraq leading to ultimate withdrawal of all American and Allied forces there, Iran has been preparing to fill the coming vacuum of power. Iran has always had territorial ambitions concerning Iraq, since both countries are among the few that have a majority of Shia-Islam adherents. Most of the rest of the Muslim world (85 to 90 percent) adheres to Sunni-Islam.

The Iraqi armed forces were largely destroyed or dispersed by U.S. and Allied forces in 2003 and have been rebuilt to a modest 193,000 personnel on active duty. By contrast, the active duty strength of Iran’s armed forces is 543,000, plus another 120,000 in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC). Its IRGC-trained terrorist organization, Hezbollah (the Army of Allah), is the largest, best-equipped, best trained, and most effective terrorist organization in the world.

A January 15 article in the New York Times claimed that the United States and Israel had launched a Stuxnet computer virus to cripple Iran’s nuclear development program. On October 11, the U.S. Justice Department announced the arrest of two men in New York linked to an Iranian Special Forces plot to assassinate Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States on American soil. In early November, a United Nations sponsored International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report concluded that Iran was actively pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

On November 12, reports began to filter into Western news agencies that there had been a series of mysterious explosions at an Iranian ballistic missile base near Tehran. Initial reports indicated that every building in the complex had been destroyed and seventeen IRGC personnel had been killed, including a high-ranking IRGC commander. The IRGC is an elite and fervently Islamic Corp within the Iranian armed forces. The smoke from the explosions could be seen on high-altitude satellite photos. A few days later, the Iranian government said the blasts were accidental

The next day, Ahmad Rezai, the son of Mohsen Rezai, a former IRGC commander and presidential contender, was found dead in a Dubai hotel room. Some Iranian press reports reported the death as a suicide, but others claimed the death resulted from electric shocks.

On November 21, the U.S. and Britain announced expanded financial and energy sanctions against Iran. The British and Canadian governments totally severed the Central Bank of Iran from their financial institutions.

On November 28, international press reports indicated that more mysterious explosions had occurred in the Iranian city of Esfahan. This was confirmed by Israeli and American intelligence sources. These intelligence sources indicated that extensive damage had occurred in an area of military research and development facilities, some of which were associated with Iran’s nuclear development plans.

Later that day, Iran’s Guardian Council, the powerful group of Islamic clerics, who oversee legislation passed by the Iranian Parliament, expelled the British Ambassador and downgraded diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom. The next day, Iranian protestors stormed the British Embassy and residential compound in Tehran, while Iranian authorities and police stood by without interfering.

On December 4, a small bomb was detonated under a van parked by the British Embassy in Manama, Bahrain. The next day, Iran announced that it had recovered a U.S. RQ-170 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in Iranian territory.

In addition to Iran’s tentacles into Iraq, Hezbollah forces are active in Syria and Lebanon. In Syria, they are allied with the Shia-Alawite Muslim minority (13 percent of the population) and Ba’ath Party regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in its internal struggle against dissidents. Sunni Muslims make up 74 percent of the population. Christians are a comparatively large minority in Syria, with 10 percent of the population. It was in Antioch, Syria, that followers of Jesus began to be called Christians.

Beginning in January 2011, this struggle has escalated from protest marches to violent conflict with over 4,000 dead. Most of the casualties have been associated with harsh crackdowns by the Syrian Army on centers of regional resistance to the Assad regime. Assad’s crackdown is not supported by most other predominantly Muslim nations in the Middle East, which also happen to be overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. The Arab League has suspended Syria’s membership. Under Assad, Syria continues to be Iran’s most important ally.

Lebanon was once 60 percent Christian, but due to Muslim immigration into the country and a considerable exodus of the Christian population during the last 40 years of violence, Lebanon is now 60 percent Muslim. Most recent statistics indicate Shia and Sunni Muslims each have about 27 percent of the population. The rest are mainly Druze, a form of Islam considered heretical by Sunni and Shia Muslims. The recent history of Lebanon has been an often violent transition from Christian political dominance to Muslim parity with increasing Hezbollah power. In January of this year, the Parliamentary government of Lebanon, based on religious allocations of parliamentary seats—a system called Confessionalism—essentially collapsed. A Hezbollah-led coalition now controls Parliament, thus expanding the influence of Iran.

The Covert War Against Iran is a result of both Iran’s growing potential to be a nuclear bully in the Middle East and its ongoing expansion of power and influence through its Hezbollah terrorist arm. Connections within Shia-Islam have been an important factor in Iran’s expansionist strategy. There is no doubt that the U.S, UK, and Israel are escalating their covert war against Iran’s expansionist and potentially nuclear threat.