The report on Iran's military states that paramilitaries from the Quds Force, a special paramilitary unit attached to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, have "an increased presence in Latin America, particularly Venezuela". It also alleges that Iran is continuing to supply weapons and explosives to the Taliban to help them kill American and British troops in Afghanistan.
The Quds force [IRGC-QF] "maintains operational capabilities around the world," the report states that "it is well established in the Middle East and North Africa" but has been extending its reach into Latin America in recent years.
"If US involvement in conflict in these regions deepens, contact with the IRGC-QF, directly or through extremist groups it supports, will be more frequent and consequential".
The report does not supply details of Iranian activity in Venezuela but represents to the first warning in an official US government report about Iranian paramilitary activities in the Western Hemisphere. President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has been accused of supporting Marxist terrorists in Colombia.
Iranian-backed terrorists have conducted few attacks in the region but American intelligence officials told The Washington Times that Quds Force operatives are developing networks of terrorists in Latin America who could be activated to attack the US if there was a conflict over Iran's nuclear programme.
The Quds force is said to support US enemies by giving them arms, funding and paramilitary training and is not constrained by Islamist ideology.
"Many of the groups it supports do not share, and sometimes openly oppose, Iranian revolutionary principles, but Iran supports them because they share common interests or enemies," the report states Qods force operatives are stationed in Iranian embassies, charities and religious and cultural institutions that support Shia Muslims.
They provide some humanitarian support but also take part in "paramilitary operations to support extremists and destabilise unfriendly regimes," according to the report.
The report links Quds force and the larger IRGC to some of the deadliest terrorist attacks of the past 30 years: the bombing of the American Embassy in Beirut in 1983, the bombing of a Jewish centre in Argentina in 1994, the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia in 1996 and insurgent attacks in Iraq after 2003.
It states that the Quds force is working through non-governmental organisations and political opposition groups in Afghanistan and Tehran is backing the insurgent leaders Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Ismail Khan.
"Arms caches have been recently uncovered [in Afghanistan] with large amounts of Iranian-manufactured weapons, to include 107 millimetre rockets, which we assess IRGC-QF delivered to Afghan militants," the report states.
"Tehran's support to the Taliban is inconsistent with their historic enmity, but fits with Iran's strategy of backing many groups to ensure that it will have a positive relationship with the eventual leaders."
