Iran's Deadly Ambition (32 page)

40
.
   
As of 2012, bilateral trade between Iran and Ecuador totaled merely
$16.8 million. See “Latin America: Iran Trade Triples,”
Latinvex.com
, October 16, 2012,
http://www.latinvex.com/app/article.aspx?id=303
.

41
.
   
Journalists and experts, in discussion with the author, Quito, Ecuador, April
–
May 2012. Interviews conducted in confidentiality.

42
.
   
See Alex Perez, “Sanctions Busting Schemes in Ecuador,” in
Iran’s Strategic Penetration of Latin America
, ed. Joseph M. Humire and Ilan Berman.

43
.
   
“Terroristas de Medio Oriente en Ecuador,”
Vistazo
(Quito), April 7, 2011.

44
.
   
“Brazil Doesn’t Recognize Unilateral Sanctions on Iran,”
Tehran Times
, November 10, 2008.

45
.
   
“Brazil Is Iran’s Most Important Trading Partner, Followed by Argentina,”
Santiago Times
, December 7, 2009,
http://www.santiagotimes.cl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17784:iran-triples-latin-american-trade-to-us29-billion&catid=48:other&Itemid=122
.

46
.
   
As cited in Joe Leahy, “New Brazil Creates Some Distance from Iran,”
Financial Times
, January 23, 2012,
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/881b4494-45e7-11e1-9592-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3LhnFw9a5
.

47
.
   
Statistics derived from Brazil’s Ministério do Desenvolvimento, Indústria e Comércio Exterior. Online at
http://www.mdic.gov.br//sitio/interna/interna.php?area=5&menu=576
.

48
.
   
Journalist, in discussion with the author, São Paulo, Brazil, April
–
May 2012. Interview conducted in confidentiality.

49
.
   
Ibid.

50
.
   
“Foreign Guests Arriving in Tehran to Attend Rouhani’s Swearing-In Ceremony,” Tasnim News Agency (Tehran)
,
August 3, 2013.

51
.
   
Marcelo Martinez Burgos and Alberto Nisman, “Office of Criminal Investigations: AMIA Case,” Investigations Unit of the Office of the Attorney General (report; request for arrests), 2006,
http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/docs/nismanindict.pdf
.

52
.
   
“Don’t Lie to Me, Argentina,”
The Economist
, February 25, 2012,
http://www.economist.com/node/21548242
.

53
.
   
Julian M. Obiglio and Diego C. Naveira, “Rewriting History in Argentina,” in
Iran’s Strategic Penetration of Latin America
, ed. Joseph M. Humire and Ilan Berman, 82.

54
.
   
Diego Melamed, “Meeting of Argentina and Iran Ministers Rankles Israel, U.S.,”
JTA.org
, September 30, 2012,
http://www.jta.org/2012/09/30/news-opinion/united-states/meeting-of-argentina-and-iran-ministers-rankles-israel-u-s
.

55
.
   
“Argentina and Iran Create ‘Truth Commission,’ ” Al Jazeera (Doha), January 28, 2013,
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/01/20131272055398688.html
.

56
.
   
Figures derived from the International Monetary Fund’s Direction of Trade Statistics database (compilation in author’s collection).

57
.
   
“Argentine Court Strikes Down ‘Truth Commission’ Deal with Iran on 1994 Bombing,” Reuters, May 16, 2014,
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.591028
.

58
.
   
Obiglio and Naveira, “Rewriting History in Argentina,” 82.

59
.
   
Nonproliferation consultant for the U.S. government, in discussion with the author, Washington, D.C., July 2013. Interview conducted in confidentiality.

60
.
   
See Cynthia J. Arnson, Haleh Esfandiari, and Adam Stubits, eds.,
Iran in Latin America: Threat or ‘Axis of Annoyance’?
Woodrow Wilson Center Reports on the Americas, no. 23 (July 2008),
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Iran_in_LA.pdf
.

61
.
   
“Israel: Ties to South America Aiding Iran’s Nuclear Program,”
Ynetnews.com
, May 25, 2009,
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3721335,00.html
.

62
.
   
U.S. Department of Defense,
Annual Report on Military Power of Iran, April 2012
,
http://www.fas.org/man/eprint/dod-iran.pdf
.

63
.
   
Roman Ortiz, “Ayatollahs Cast Growing Shadow in Latin America,”
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
, September 9, 2009,
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/ayattolahs-cast-growing-shadow-135031.html
.

64
.
   
See, for example, “Iran Firm to Boost Ties with Latin America: Rouhani,” Press TV (Tehran), February 10, 2014,
http://www.presstv.com/detail/2014/02/10/350081/iran-vows-close-ties-with-latam-mexico/
.

65
.
   
“Iranian MPs Leave Tehran for Tour of Latin America,” FARS News Agency (Tehran), May 26, 2014,
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13930305001318
.

66
.
   
“Iran Triples Trade Envoys Abroad to Boost Commerce,” Associated Press, May 5, 2014,
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/iran-triples-trade-envoys-abroad-boost-commerce
.

67
.
   
“Iran Set Up Terrorist Network in Latin America,” Reuters, May 30, 2013,
http://www.jpost.com/Iranian-Threat/News/Prosecutor-Iran-set-up-terrorist-networks-in-Latin-America-314793
.

68
.
   
Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, “Abdul Kadir Sentenced to Life in Prison for Conspiring to Commit Terrorist Attack at JFK Airport,” December 15, 2010,
http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2010/nyfo121510a.htm
.

69
.
   
Charles Savage and Scott Shane, “Iranians Accused of a Plot to Kill Saudis’ U.S. Envoy,”
New York Times
, October 11, 2011,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/us/us-accuses-iranians-of-plotting-to-kill-saudi-envoy.html?pagewanted=all
.

70
.
   
“La Amenaza Iraní,” Univision, December 9, 2011,
http://noticias.univision.com/article/786870/2011-12-09/documentales/la-amenaza-irani/la-amenaza-irani
.

71
.
   
“U.S. Expels Venezuelan Diplomat in Miami,” CNN, January 9, 2014,
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/08/us/venezuela-consul/
.

72
.
   
Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012, H.R. 3783, 112th Congress, 2011–2013, Second Session,
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr3783/text
.

73
.
   
Ibid.

74
.
   
United States Government Accountability Office,
Combating Terrorism: Strategy to Counter Iran in the Western Hemisphere Has Gaps That State Department Should Address
, September 2014,
http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/666202.pdf
.

75
.
   
Josh Rogin, “State Department Ordered Review of Iranian Terror Activity in Latin America,” Daily Beast, August 5, 2013,
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/05/state-department-ordered-review-of-iranian-terror-activity-in-latin-america.html
.

76
.
   
Joseph M. Humire, “Anticipating Iran’s Next Moves,” in
Iran’s Strategic Penetration of Latin America
, ed. Humire and Ilan Berman, 100.

CHAPTER VIII: INROADS IN AFRICA

  
1
.
   
Secretary of State, “Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Act—Notification of Sanctions against Three Sudanese Entities,” December 28, 2006,
https://cablegatesearch.wikileaks.org/cable.php?id=06STATE203861&q=sudan%20yarmouk
.

  
2
.
   
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, “Sudan Opposition: Bombed Arms Factory Belongs to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard,”
Haaretz.com
(Tel Aviv), October 24, 2012,
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/sudan-opposition-bombed-arms-factory-belongs-to-iran-s-revolutionary-guard.premium-1.472090
.

  
3
.
   
Ibid.

  
4
.
   
Sheera Frenkel, “Israeli Operations in Sudan Aimed at Disrupting Gaza Arms Trade, Officials Say,”
McClatchyDC.com
, October 25, 2012,
http://www.mcclatchy.com/2012/10/25/172602_israeli-operations-in-sudan-aimed.html?rh=1
.

  
5
.
   
As cited in Lee Smith, “Smugglers Galore,”
Weekly Standard
18, no. 16 (December 31, 2012),
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/smugglers-galore_690839.html
.

  
6
.
   
Jonathan Schanzer, “A Deadly Love Triangle,”
Weekly Standard
, August 6, 2008,
https://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/401vcvba.asp
.

  
7
.
   
Ibid.

  
8
.
   
Steven O’Hern,
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard: The Threat That Grows while America Sleeps
(Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2012), 79
–
80.

  
9
.
   
Ibid.

10
.
   
Amir Taheri, “Sudan: An Expanding Civil War with an Iran Connection,”
New York Times
, April 9, 1997,
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/09/opinion/09iht-edamir.t.html
.

11
.
   
O’Hern,
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard
, 80.

12
.
   
Human Rights First,
Arms Transfers to Sudan, 2004–2006
, n.d.,
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/CAH-081001-arms-table.pdf
.

13
.
   
“Tehran Opposes Al-Bashir Arrest,” FARS News Agency (Tehran), September 8, 2008,
http://eurasia.ro/?p=16676
.

14
.
   
“West Sanctions on Iran, Sudan Politically-Motivated: Larijani,” Press TV (Tehran), October 1, 2012,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/01/264471/west-bans-on-iran-sudan-political/
.

15
.
   
J. Peter Pham, “Shi’a in Senegal: Iran’s Growing Reach into Africa,”
WorldDefenseReview.com
, February 18, 2010,
http://worlddefensereview.com/pham021810.shtml
.

16
.
   
“Iran ‘Could Share Nuclear Skills,’ ” BBC News, April 25, 2006,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4943782.stm
.

17
.
   
As cited in Eric Reeves, “Sudan Embraces Genocide, Terrorism—and Iran,”
Washington Post
, November 30, 2014,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/sudan-embraces-genocide-terrorism--iran/2014/11/30/2ed603ae-75bb-11e4-a755-e32227229e7b_story.html
.

18
.
   
Armin Rosen, “Desperate for Allies and Secret Assets, Iran Penetrates Africa,”
The Tower
, no. 5, August 2013,
http://www.thetower.org/article/desperate-for-allies-and-secret-assets-iran-penetrates-africa/
.

19
.
   
For more, see Ilan Berman, “Iran’s Mullahs Blame Mahmoud,”
Wall Street Journal Europe
, October 11, 2012,
http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390444799904578048500234241748?mg=reno64-wsj
.

20
.
   
See, for example, Geneive Abdo, “Iran: Ahmadinejad vs Khamenei,” Al Jazeera (Doha), July 6, 2011,
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/06/201162994514399969.html
.

21
.
   
Rana Rahimpour, “Ahmadinejad’s Last Africa Tour Tries to Cement Ties,” BBC News, April 15, 2013,
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-22150235
.

22
.
   
Michael Rubin, “ ‘Forgotten’ Africa Turns to Iran as a Result of Western Neglect,”
Public Service Europe
, May 7, 2013, accessed at American Enterprise Institute,
https://www.aei.org/publication/forgotten-africa-turns-to-iran-as-a-result-of-western-neglect/
.

23
.
   
“List of Diplomatic Missions of Iran,”
Wikipedia
, n.d.,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diplomatic_missions_of_Iran
; Argaw Ashwine, “Iran to Open Four New Embassies in Africa,”
AfricaReview.com
, January 31, 2012,
http://www.africareview.com/News/-/979180/1317204/-/gnv98pz/-/index.html
.

24
.
   
Michael Rubin,
Africa: Iran’s Final Frontier?
Middle Eastern Outlook, no. 2 (American Enterprise Institute, April 2013),
https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/-africa-irans-final-frontier_145228692703.pdf
.