US says Iran remains ‘world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism’
Iran remains the world’s worst state sponsor of
terrorism, according to a report released on Saturday by the US State
Department.
“The regime has spent nearly one billion dollars per
year to support terrorist groups that serve as its proxies and expand its
malign influence across the globe,” the State Department said in its annual
release of the “Country Reports on Terrorism” for 2018.
“Tehran has funded international terrorist groups
such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It also has engaged in
its own terrorist plotting around the world, particularly in Europe,” the
report added.
It cited an incident in January 2018 when German
authorities investigated 10 suspected Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Quds
Force (IRGC – QF) operatives. During summer last year, Belgian, French and
German authorities thwarted an Iranian plot to bomb a political opposition
rally near Paris.
Speaking to Al Arabiya, US Special Representative
for Iran Brian Hook said that Washington has made it harder for Iran to conduct
foreign interference operations as “Iran doesn’t have the money that it used
to.”
“This is money that the regime spends in places like
Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen,” Hook said.
