Iran support for global terror surged in 2012: US

Published May 31, 2013
The State Department released Country Reports on Terrorism for 2012 on Thursday. – File Photo
The State Department released Country Reports on Terrorism for 2012 on Thursday. – File Photo

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration is accusing Iran of increasing support for global terrorism to levels not seen for two decades.

The administration also says core elements of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan are headed for defeat, as their leaders increasingly fight for survival.

The State Department released Country Reports on Terrorism for 2012 on Thursday.

The reports say Iran's sponsorship of terror has reached a tempo unseen since the 1990s, with attacks plotted in Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia.

Those include an attack on a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria that killed six, as well as thwarted strikes in India, Thailand, Georgia and Kenya.

The reports say core al Qaeda continues to weaken. But they also note the US must defend itself from a “more decentralized and geographically dispersed terrorist threat.”

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