Special Report: The Iran Connection
The Ties to Tehran
Agents from Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps infiltrated several Iraqi cities (yellow) to collect information on U.S.-led forces and work with insurgent groups after the ouster of Saddam Hussein. Other Iranian agents crossed the long, porous, border with Iraq, intelligence reports said, to support the Mahdi Army and the Badr Organization.
[MAP LABELS]
IRAQ
IRAN
Tehran
Iraq-Iran border crossings
Hajj Umran
Baneh
Halabjah
As Sulaymaniyah
Khanaqin
Mehran and Baramadad
Chamsari
Hoveyzeh
Darsiyah
Shalamchah
Khorramshahr
Abadan
Active Iranian intelligence cells
Mosul
Kirkuk
Baghdad
Karbala
Kut
Najaf
Amarah
Basra
[LABELS-GLOBE INSET]
IRAQ
IRAN
Area of detail
Sources: U.S. intelligence and State Department reports; United Nations
Rob Cady--USN&WR
AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE
BADR ORGANIZATION. This group served as the armed wing of a Shiite political party in Iraq known as the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution. Members of the Badr group opposed Saddam Hussein's rule, and fled to Iran in the early 1980s. A British intelligence report says that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "funded, trained, and armed the group, as well as assigning IRGC personnel in a support capacity." Members returned to Iraq after the coalition invasion in March 2003.
HEZBOLLAH (THE PARTY OF GOD) was created in 1982 after Israel invaded Lebanon. Hezbollah is a Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim group inspired by the Iranian revolution and the teachings of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The organization is funded by [Iran]. Syria also supports this group.
ANSAR AL-ISLAM is a Sunni Muslim group of Iraqi Kurds and Arabs established in December 2001. It is closely allied with al Qaeda and the terrorist network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Intelligence reports indicate that elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have provided safe haven and training for Ansar al-Islam members. Reports also say that Ansar al-Islam and al Qaeda have crossed into Iraq from Iran and Syria. Additionally, they suggest an Ansar al-Islam tie with former members of Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen paramilitary force.
MAHDI ARMY. This is the armed militia group of the radical Shiite cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr. Intelligence reports say that Iran used Hezbollah to train and provide funds to Sadr's militia and may have also used front companies to fund Sadr's attacks against coalition forces.
Sources: U.S. intelligence and State Department reports, United Nations
With Jennifer Jack
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