Danger To U.S. and Allies
Iran presents a grave threat to the U.S. and to our allies. This is not just a fear for the future; Iran
is harming America and our allies today by funding insurgent groups and militias inside Iraq. In addition, Iran has the capability now to hit US troops, NATO partners, and other significant allies with conventional weapons. If Tehran were allowed to develop nuclear weapons, this threat would increase dramatically, heightening their power and deepening our peril.
Iran Arms and Trains Iraqi Insurgents who Target American Soldiers. Iran provides money, weapons and training to several Shia militias operating in Iraq. Much of this assistance is provided by the Qods Force, an elite unit of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The United States government calls the Qods Force the Iranian “regime’s primary mechanism for cultivating and supporting terrorists and Islamic militants to advance Iranian national interests.” The Qods Force has provided mortars, automatic weapons, advanced rockets, and sniper rifles to Iraqi militants. The Qods Force has also provided insurgents with explosively formed projectiles (EFPs) – a particularly deadly type of improvised explosive device, specially designed to penetrate the armored vehicles used by our troops. Iranian forces, working together with Hezbollah, have trained Iraqi militants at several camps inside Iran. These militants then return to Iraq and share their new knowledge, in what American officials describe as a “train-the-trainer” program. Just this August, American intelligence officials told the Associated Press that the Qods force is training Iraqi Shiite assassination teams in at least four locations in Iran to return to Iraq in the next few months to kill specific Iraqi officials as well as U.S. and Iraqi troops.
Iran Has Missiles Capable of Striking American Troops and Allies. Iran recently test-fired a Shahab-3 missile, which has a range of about 1,250 miles, putting Israel, American forces in the Middle East, and even parts of Southern Europe at risk. Cairo, Athens, and Istanbul are all within 1,250 miles of Iranian territory, and since the Shahab-3 could be adapted to carry a nuclear warhead, it puts these cities in grave danger. Iran is also developing a new solid fuel missile called the Ashura, with a similarly long range. The full scope of Iran’s arsenal may be even more frightening. After Iran’s missile test in July, Lt. General Henry Obering, the Director of the Missile Defense Agency said, “I personally believe, based on what I’ve seen, that right now Iran has the ability to reach most of Europe. And they just haven’t demonstrated it yet.” If Iran develops nuclear weapons, the threat posed by their inventory of ballistic missiles will increase exponentially.
Iran Directly Threatens Israel, a Key US Ally. Iran poses a direct and existential threat to the state of Israel, a key U.S. strategic ally and the only democracy in the Middle East. Iranian leaders have repeatedly spoken of destroying Israel. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be wiped “off the map” and referred to the Holocaust a “myth.” More recently, he called Israel a “dirty microbe” and a “savage animal” and predicted that “the Zionist regime, with a 60-year record of genocide, plunder, invasion and betrayal is about to die and will soon be erased from the geographical scene." Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Muhammad Ali Jafari wrote in a February 2008 letter to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that “the cancerous growth Israel will soon disappear.”
Iran provides much more than rhetorical support to Israel’s enemies. According to the State Department, Iran provides “Lebanese Hizballah and Palestinian terrorist groups, notably Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine- General Command, with extensive funding, training and weapons.” For example, Iran has provided at least $120 million to Hamas since 2006. Iran provided Hezbollah with thousands of short and long-range artillery rockets that the terrorist group used during its 2006 war with Israel in which Hezbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into Israel, killing 40 civilians. Iran’s deep hostility towards Israel is clear. If Iran develops nuclear weapons, Israel’s survival as a nation will be in jeopardy.
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