Iran Remains an Enduring Threat in Africa

(New York, N.Y) – Friday marks the 22nd anniversary of the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. On August 7, 1998, al Qaeda carried out two simultaneous suicide truck bombings outside the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, killing 224 people and injuring thousands more. In 2011, a U.S. federal court found that Iran was also culpable for the bombings for contributing “material support” to al Qaeda essential for the execution of the attacks. As U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates wrote at the time, “Al Qaeda desired to replicate Hezbollah’s 1983 Beirut Marine barracks suicide bombing, and Bin Laden sought Iranian expertise to teach al Qaeda operatives about how to blow up buildings.”

Iran continues to plot against U.S. interests in Africa to this very day. In January 2020, the head of U.S. Africa Command told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee that Iran is planning attacks against Americans in Africa following the death of former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani. Foreign Policy reported Iran is partnering with al Shabab in targeting the U.S. military in Somalia and in smuggling weapons elsewhere on the continent.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)’s state sponsor of terrorism resource tracks Iran’s role in sponsoring attacks worldwide against U.S. allies and partners since 1979. Also, UANI’s report, How Iran Exports its Ideology, focuses specifically on Africa and how the regime has used its embassies as ideological incubators to export the Islamic Revolution. Lastly, UANI’s report, Al Qaeda and Iran: Alliance Against the U.S., analyzes how both entities have found common cause for collaboration at different junctures throughout their histories.

To read UANI’s resource, Iran As #1 State Sponsor of Terrorism, please click here.

To read UANI’s report, How Iran Exports its Ideology, please click here.

To read UANI’s report, Al Qaeda and Iran: Alliance Against the U.S., please click here.

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