Iran supported terrorist groups throughout the Middle East in 2014 in spite of international talks on limiting its nuclear program, the State Department says in a report that is certain to fuel renewed calls for tying the issue to any nuclear deal.
Iran also is a key sponsor of the regime of Bashar Assad in Syria, the annual report on terrorism released Friday said, and its support is widely seen as a key element in his survival in power through a four-year civil war.
Obama administration officials said they remain concerned about Iran’s role as a state sponsor of terrorism, but insist the effort should be kept separate from the nuclear talks, which are reaching their climax ahead of a July 1 deadline for a permanent agreement.
“Our very serious and grave concerns about Iran’s support for terrorism remains unabated. And the negotiations that Iran has agreed to with the P5+1, our international community, is solely focused on making sure that they don’t obtain a nuclear weapon,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Friday.
“So our view is, because of their support for terrorism, that is all the more reason that we need to make sure that they don’t obtain a nuclear weapon. And so that’s where our focus is right now.”
But many lawmakers don’t buy that argument and have been pushing the administration to take a tougher line against Tehran’s actions in the region. They have expressed concern that administration officials are going easy on Iran so as not to disturb the chances for a nuclear deal.
“You’ve got to take into account what Iran is doing and their influences throughout this region. And, by the way, I do not think I got any sort of answer about what’s your plan for dealing with Iran other than the nuclear issue,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, told reporters Wednesday after a hearing on U.S. Middle East policy at which Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the 35,000 U.S. troops in the region were there partly to check Iran’s “malign influence.”
The report notes that Iran continues to support Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza, the Shiite extremist group Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shia militias in Iraq that have been accused of abuses against Sunni Arabs there.
Iran also is providing arms, financing, training and travel to foreign fighters helping the Assad regime in Syria, including Afghans, the report noted. The Wall Street Journal reported June 11 that Iran is backing the Taliban in Afghanistan with cash and arms.
Much of the activity is funneled through the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds Force, which are the targets of much of the U.S. sanctions against Iran. Though the administration insists it will lift sanctions only related to the nuclear issue if there’s any deal with Iran, lawmakers have raised concerns that the lifting of any sanctions will provide a cash infusion for those groups to expand their activities.
“Now that the administration admits nuclear talks haven’t diminished Iran’s support for terrorism, to what extent has Iran used the interim nuclear deal’s $12 billion in sanctions relief payments to fund terrorists or other terror-supporting regimes?” asked Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill.
“As we move closer to the June 30th deadline for a final nuclear deal that could return as much as $140 billion in frozen funds to Iran, the White House remains silent on this critical question.”
When asked about how the report’s findings would affect the nuclear talks, Tina Kaidanow, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism, repeated the administration’s line that the talks are considered a separate issue.
“None of that implies that we will be … taking our eye off the ball with respect to what Iran is doing as a supporter of terrorism,” she said.
