As the U.S. disengages from Latin America as part of President Obama’s broader policy of reducing American presence in the world, Iran is moving in fill parts of that geopolitical vacuum, says a report published by Washington D.C. based Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS). The report used documents and legal wiretaps related to the circumstance surrounding the death of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman who died of a bullet shot on January 19, 2015, a day before he was going to testify before Argentina’s Congress about Buenos Aires Jewish community center bombing carried out by Iranian terrorists.
The report cited by the Wall Street Journal shows how the death of Argentine prosecutor “paved the way for [Iran] to move into a new phase of its information and intelligence operations in Latin America.” WSJ concluded that unfettered access for international financial system and assets worth $150 billion given to Iran as the result of Obama-Kerry Nuclear Deal “will increase Iran’s penetration of the Western Hemisphere.”
The revelation comes just days after a senior Israeli diplomat in New Delhi warned of a concrete threat of Iran-sponsored terrorism targeting Israelis in India and abroad. In February 2012, Iranian terrorists carried out a bomb attack targeting Israeli mission in New Delhi.
According to the report, Iranian operatives are infiltrating mosques, cultural centres and universities in Latin America. WSJ writes:
Joseph Humire, the executive director of the Washington, D.C., based Center for a Secure Free Society, uses thousands of documents and legal wiretaps released to the public to show how the prosecutor’s death eliminated a key stumbling block for Iran and “paved the way for [it] to move into a new phase of its information and intelligence operations in Latin America.”Authoritarian Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have welcomed the presence and influence of Iran. But others are being surreptitiously invaded, beginning with embassies, cultural centers and mosques. Peru’s southern rural communities are typical targets for launching networks. Front companies in the beef and oil industries in Brazil and Uruguay are used to provide cover for Iranian operatives. As for Chile, Mr. Humire’s report shows how Iran has infiltrated universities.(…) Mr. Humire says: “At a time when U.S. influence has diminished in the region, Latin America is arguably Iran’s top foreign policy priority outside of the Middle East.”
A year after Iran signed the Obama-sponsored Nuclear Deal that gave it $150 billion in signing amount and lifted wide-ranging sanctions against the regime, Iran continues to finance, train and weaponize its Islamist terror proxies around the world. Even John Kerry admits that “some of the money Iran received in sanctions relief would go to groups considered terrorists.”
Iran is not only building nuclear weapons and Intercontinental ballistic missiles to go with it, it is also building a terrorist network right across the southern border of the United States. Iran has been very successful in infiltrating Europe, where its proxies like Hezbollah can raise funds and operate openly. According to a report published by the Jerusalem Post, Germany alone has around a thousand operatives loyal to the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah. The same scenario is now unfolding in Latin America.
Emboldened by America’s retreat and billions to spend on terrorist networks, Iran is poised to become a big players in global Islamist terrorism.
VIDEO: How Iran ships weapons to terrorists in Gaza:
[Cover image AP Archive, YouTube]
Author is a Germany-based analyst.
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