Shortly after the International Atomic Energy Agency released its report showing that Iran is developing a nuclear missile, the regime reminded us why we must stop it from getting nuclear arms. On Saturday, Bahrain and Qatar announced that they foiled a large Iranian-sponsored attack. On Sunday, an American citizen who is an Iranian dissident was found dead in Dubai, almost certainly murdered at the hands of the regime.
The Bahraini government claimed on Saturday, November 12, that it had foiled a large terrorist plot engineered by the Iranian regime. It said that Qatar, a U.S. “ally” that has gotten much cozier with the Iranian regime in recent years, arrested four Bahrainis in its territory involved in the plot. Qatar’s involvement gives credibility to the claim. The Bahraini authorities arrested a fifth suspect.
The alleged terror cell was accused of being in contact with senior officials in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and receiving Iranian financing. The group is believed to have been targeting the Saudi embassy in Manama, the Bahraini Interior Ministry and the King Fahd Causeway that goes from the island of Bahrain to Saudi Arabia. The suspects are reported to have had “sensitive security information” about the targets on their laptops. The four flew from Iran to Syria and then crossed into Qatar from Saudi Arabia.
The Iranian regime has been furious for months over the Bahraini Royal Family’s suppression of the mostly-Shiite protest movement, with top Iranian officials calling for military intervention. Saudi Arabia, which deployed forces to Bahrain to assist with the Royal Family’s crackdown, has been repeatedly threatened. A representative of Supreme Leader Khamenei described the conflict in Bahrain in eschatological terms, saying, “The uprising in Bahrain is the best opportunity to begin setting the stage for the emergence of the Twelfth Imam, our Mahdi.” He added that the uprising “could be the catalyst to cause the disintegration of the United States and lead to the downfall of that straw empire.”
This is the second major Iranian-sponsored terror plot to be publicly exposed within two months. Last month, the U.S. revealed that it foiled a Revolutionary Guards plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. in Washington D.C., using the Zetas drug cartel as cover. Iran hoped that Al-Qaeda would get the blame. The Iranians planned to blow up a restaurant, killing many innocent Americans. The conspirators also discussed plots against the Israeli and Saudi embassies in Washington D.C. and Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Saudi ambassador was likely chosen because of Wikileaks’ revelation that he had privately implored the U.S. to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities.
On Sunday, an American citizen and Iranian dissident named Ahmad Rezai was found dead in Dubai. The Foundation for Democracy in Iran broke the story, noting that the Iranian Supreme Leader’s office originally reported Rezai as having been murdered. News reporters later described it as a suicide because of his slit wrist, but his father’s website said there were signs of electrocution.
Rezai is the son of a senior Revolutionary Guards commander named Mohsen Rezai who ran for president in 2009. Rezai turned against the Iranian regime and came to the U.S. in 1998, where he fathered a daughter. The regime refused to let him back into the country. The Foundation for Democracy in Iran reports that an unconfirmed account puts Rezai in the presence of two members of the Al-Quds Force, the Revolutionary Guards’ elite branch for covert operations, shortly before his death.
The Iranian regime’s actions over the weekend show why its nuclear weapons program is so dangerous. Iran is considering suspending all cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency in response to its incriminating report. Iran also arrested two Kuwaiti citizens as spies, perhaps in retaliation for the Arab League’s suspension of Syria for the Assad regime’s murdering of at least 3,500 civilians since the uprising began in February.
The Arab League’s action was approved by all members except for Yemen and Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon, which voted against it, and Iraq, which abstained. The Arab League also announced it would begin meeting with representatives of the Syrian opposition. Syria responded violently, with pro-Assad thugs attacking the Turkish, Qatari and Saudi embassies. The Turkish and French missions in Aleppo and Latakia were also attacked.
It is possible that the Iranian terror plot was hatched in retaliation for the Arab League’s pressure on Syria, but it could indicate a renewed effort by Iran to stir up trouble in the Gulf. In 2009, the Iranians heavily backed the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen who were at war with the Yemeni government and Saudi Arabia. Earlier this year, Iranian officials talked of militarily intervening on the side of Shiite protesters against the Bahraini Royal Family. A website was even set up to organize volunteer fighters, which claimed to have signed up nearly 2,000 by late March.
The Iranian regime stood on the brink of armed conflict with Bahrain and the other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council in May when it dispatched a flotilla to deliver humanitarian aid and messages of encouragement. Some Bahraini officials warned that it’d be an act of war if the flotilla violated Bahrain’s sovereignty, and Kuwait said its navy would “not allow any Iranian ship to approach the kingdom’s shores.” The flotilla turned around half-way and returned to Iran.
The documentary filmed by the Iranian regime titled The Coming is Upon Us makes it clear that it believes that it is tasked by Allah with bringing about the appearance of the Mahdi. The film states that the Arab Spring and rise of the Muslim Brotherhood are fulfillments of prophecy, and that Iran is destined to lead a new Arab coalition in destroying Israel.
This weekend’s events should serve as a reminder of why the IAEA’s report is so frightening.
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