ACCESSION
NUMBER:344202
FILE ID:TXT101
DATE:05/16/94
TITLE:TERRORISM: AN IRANIAN EXPORT (05/16/94)
TEXT:*94051601.TXT
TERRORISM: AN IRANIAN EXPORT
(VOA Editorial) (310)
(Following is an editorial, broadcast by the Voice of America May 16,
reflecting the views of the U.S. government.)
Iran is one of seven nations -- including Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Cuba
and North Korea -- that support international terrorism. Iran is also the
most active state sponsor of terrorist attacks. In 1993, Iran's
intelligence services supported terrorist attacks -- either directly or
through extremist groups -- aimed primarily at opponents of the regime
living abroad. Iran was linked to several assassinations of dissidents
during the past year.
Iranian leaders continue to call for the murder of British author Salman
Rushdie and threaten to take revenge on anyone who supports or protects
him. In October, the Norwegian publisher of Rushdie's novel was shot and
seriously wounded in Oslo. Three months earlier, 37 people died in a fire
set by anti-Rushdie demonstrators -- part of a violent campaign fomented in
part by Iran's ambassador to Turkey.
Iran is the principal sponsor of several extremist Islamic and Palestinian
terrorist groups -- including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and the Lebanese Hizballah.
Hizballah was responsible for the 1992 car bomb attack on the Israeli
embassy in Argentina, which left 29 people dead and over 240 others
wounded. In 1993, Hizballah launched rocket attacks against civilians in
northern Israel and continued its efforts to develop a worldwide terrorist
infrastructure. Iran has worked to create a rejectionist front comprising
Hizballah and 10 Palestinian groups based in Damascus to block efforts to
bring peace to the Middle East.
Iran's support of international terrorism is a betrayal of its obligations
1nder international law, the norms of civilized conduct, and the best
interests of the people of Iran. The United States calls on Iran's leaders
to cease their sponsorship of international terrorism.
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