The Obama Administration’s risky decision to seek the quickest possible exit from Iraq has contributed to a mushrooming political crisis there that is rapidly unraveling the hard-won gains of U.S. troops and threatens to plunge the country into a civil war that will greatly benefit Iran. Shortly after the December 15 end-of-mission ceremony for U.S. troops, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki purged many senior Sunni Arab political leaders from his fractious governing coalition. Maliki’s government, dominated by Shiite political parties of various stripes, also announced that it will prosecute Vice …
There has been a lot of discussion recently of Iranian involvement in Latin America, especially with the recent plot involving an assassination attempt against the Saudi ambassador to the United States. Of course, a lot of people are going to Latin America these days: the Russians, the Chinese— and even the Europeans. That’s because the region is abundant in natural resources, especially energy, and it offers the potential of emerging markets. Unfortunately, Iran is looking to make a less-than-friendly mark in Latin America, especially for the United States. Tehran has …
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta presided over a muted ceremony in Baghdad yesterday marking the end of the U.S. military mission in Iraq. He proclaimed that the United States had achieved its goal of establishing “an Iraq that could govern and secure itself.” But he warned that “Iraq will be tested in the days ahead—by terrorism, and by those who would seek to divide it.” Unfortunately, the Obama Administration’s failure to negotiate an extension of the U.S. military presence past the December 31 deadline set by the 2008 status of …
In a lengthy piece on December 13, the New York Times reported on the role Western Hemisphere drug trafficking plays in financing the Shiite, pro-Iranian terrorist organization Hezbollah. The Times took a lengthy look at the Treasury Department’s investigation of the Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB) and the organizational structure that moves illegal drugs from South America to Europe and the Middle East via West Africa and launders hundreds of millions of dollars monthly through accounts held at LCB, as well as through trade-based money laundering involving consumer goods throughout the …
In this week’s Heritage in Focus, expert Ray Walser discusses the increasingly anti-U.S. policies in Latin America. PODCAST: Terrorism in Latin America Threatens U.S. In the past decade, Iran has increased its influence in Latin America. Considering Iran’s long history of bad actions, this increased activity in the Western Hemisphere should give Americans pause. This year alone, Iran refused to abandon its nuclear ambitions, its military sat idly by as Iranian students stormed a British embassy, it attempted to assassinate a Saudi ambassador in Washington, D.C., and now is aggressively expanding its …
An attack on the British embassy in Tehran. A desperate pursuit of nuclear weapons. A plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington. Alone, any one of these actions by Iran’s regime would be cause for alarm, but taken together they make it undeniably clear that the Iranian threat cannot be ignored. Now, there is news of another effort by Iran to take aim at the United States, this time coming from Latin America. Heritage’s Israel Ortega and James Phillips explain: Iran is conducting anti-U.S. operations from Latin America, including …
Iran is conducting anti-U.S. operations from Latin America, including military training camps in Venezuela, and expanding its reach across the border from the U.S. in Mexico, according to footage unveiled late Thursday by the largest Spanish-language network in the United States, Univision. The documentary showed a former Iran senior official accepting a plan to launch from Mexico a cyber war on the United States, one that would cripple U.S. computer systems, including the White House, the FBI, the CIA and several nuclear plants. The official, former Iranian Ambassador to Mexico …
President Obama got his hand slapped when he famously stretched it out to the Iranian regime in the early days of his presidency. Now the U.S. State Department has, figuratively speaking, gotten its nose punched by the Iranian clenched fist as it tried to communicate with the Iranian people. On December 6, State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland announced the launch of Virtual Embassy Tehran, “a new and exciting engagement opportunity between the peoples of Iran and the United States.” On December 7, Iranian officials, losing little time, shut down the …
It is gratifying to see President Barack Obama condemn the disgraceful storming of the British Embassy in Tehran by thugs acting at the behest of the Iranian regime. After all, Obama has been notoriously slow in the past to criticise the brutal actions of the Iranian government after initially extending the hand of friendship to it. But did he really need to make another embarrassing foreign policy gaffe while doing so? In a press conference this evening, the president referred in stumbling fashion to the “English Embassy” in Iran instead …
Iranian protesters illegally broke into two British Embassy compounds in Tehran today as police stood by idly, and the attack was broadcast live on Iranian television. It is unclear as yet whether British diplomatic personnel were harmed or taken hostage. Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported that six British officials had been taken hostage but withdrew the story from its website minutes later without explanation. Iran’s rogue regime once again has exhibited a flagrant defiance of international law by failing to protect the embassy compounds, and it undoubtedly orchestrated the …
