U.S: Iran support for terror persists

Report sees little change in policy across Mideast.

— Iran continued WASHINGTON its “terrorist-related” activity last year and also continued to provide broad military support to President Bashar Assad of Syria, the State Department said Friday in its annual report on terrorism.

The State Department’s assessment suggests that neither the election of President Hassan Rouhani nor the prospect of a nuclear accord with the United States and its negotiating partners has had a moderating effect on Iran’s foreign policy in the Middle East.

“In 2014, Iran continued to provide arms, \inancing, training and the facilitation of primary Iraq Shia and Afghan \ighters to support the Assad regime’s brutal crackdown,” the report said.

“Iran remained unwilling to bring to justice senior al-Qaida members it continued to detain and refused to publicly identify those senior members in its custody,” it added.

The report does not contend that Iranian of\icials are conspiring to kill Americans. Nor does it accuse Iraqi militias backed by Iran of plotting to attack U.S. advisers in Iraq. The report also does not provide speci\ic \igures on Iranian operations, which might indicate whether they are increasing or decreasing.

GroQps laQnching the most attacks:

But it paints a picture of an aggressive Iranian foreign policy that has often been contrary to the interests of the United States.

Even when the United States and Iran share a common foe, as they do in the Islamic State, the Iranian role in Iraq risks inflaming sectarian tensions. Some of the Shia militias Iran has backed in Iraq have committed human rights abuses against Sunni civilians, the report said.

Although the report covers 2014, U.S. of\icials said that the Iranian policies described in the report have continued this year.

“We continue to be very, very concerned about IRGC activity as well as proxies that act on behalf of Iran,” said Tina S. Kaidanow, the State Department’s senior counterterrorism of\icial, using the acronym for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The White House has held out hope that a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program might be the \irst step toward an eventual easing of tensions and perhaps even cooperation on regional matters. But even if the two sides remain at odds over the Middle East, Obama administration of\icials insist a nuclear accord is worth pursue in its own right.