Iran's Hezbollah outposts in Cuba and Venezuela have been working against U.S. interests for years.
The assassination by U.S. airstrike of Iran’s General Qasem Soleimani on January 3, 2020 and the warnings of reprisals by Iran and the concern that they may mobilize terrorist cells to attack Americans requires a reassessment of threats. It necessitates revisiting Iran's presence in the Western Hemisphere. It also requires identifying key long term allies of the Iranian regime.
Cuba and Iran have regime's with different ideological formations. Cuba has a communist dictatorship run by the Castros since 1959 and Iran has a Islamist regime run by the mullahs since 1979. However they have two things in common: a profound anti-Americanism that portrays the U.S. as the great Satan, and a fossilized revolutionary tradition that systematically denies human rights to their respective peoples. Robin Wright referred to them as "melancholy twins" in The New Yorker in 2015.
But beyond their similarities they also have a shared strategic outlook that is hostile to the United States.
The late Fidel Castro visited Iran on May 10, 2001, four months before the September 11, 2001 attacks, where he was quoted by the Agence France Presse at the University of Tehran stating that "Iran and Cuba, in cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees." ... "The U.S. regime is very weak, and we are witnessing this weakness from close up."
Eleven years later on January 12, 2012 in Havana, Cuba the controversial president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, declared "Our
positions, versions, interpretations are alike, very close. We have
been good friends, we are and will be, and we will be together forever."
What has this meant in concrete terms for the United States?
Newsweek reported on December 18, 2017 that the "Islamist militant group Hezbollah exploded into a major cocaine trafficker for the United States over the past decade—and it happened under President Barack Obama's watch to help score a nuclear deal with Iran, a report revealed Monday."
There is a Cuban link that the Trump Administration should pay attention to. On February 13, 2016 Vice News reported that in 2011 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had been warned that the Lebanese Islamist militant group Hezbollah
was setting up an operational base in Cuba to carry out attacks in
Latin America that might also involve attacks on American diplomatic
posts or banks there. It was revealed in an e-mail from September 9, 2011 that stated the following:
The previous Administration had a poor track record of politicizing reports to pursue political objectives. In the case of Cuba this meant watering down reports on human trafficking, looking the other way on connections to drug trafficking, terrorist groups and downplaying Cuba's role in Venezuela's crisis, and attempt to smuggle tons of heavy weapons to North Korea. It now appears that the practice was also repeated with Iran. Newsweek in the already mentioned December 18, 2017 report revealed the following:
The U.S. Congress and the Pompeo State Department should investigate what is going on in Cuba and its links to Hezbollah and other bad actors. If the regime in Cuba is continuing its pattern of sponsoring terrorism and international criminal enterprises then it should be returned to the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
At a time when there is a fear of Iran seeking out asymmetric means to achieve maximum damage against United States interests, their decades long alliance with Cuba cannot and must not be ignored. Even closer to home, the relationship between the Iranian regime and white supremacists such as David Duke and anti-Semites such as Louis Farrakhan should also be closely examined.
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| Iranian President Hassan Rouhani meets with General Raul Castro (2016) |
Cuba and Iran have regime's with different ideological formations. Cuba has a communist dictatorship run by the Castros since 1959 and Iran has a Islamist regime run by the mullahs since 1979. However they have two things in common: a profound anti-Americanism that portrays the U.S. as the great Satan, and a fossilized revolutionary tradition that systematically denies human rights to their respective peoples. Robin Wright referred to them as "melancholy twins" in The New Yorker in 2015.
But beyond their similarities they also have a shared strategic outlook that is hostile to the United States.
The late Fidel Castro visited Iran on May 10, 2001, four months before the September 11, 2001 attacks, where he was quoted by the Agence France Presse at the University of Tehran stating that "Iran and Cuba, in cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees." ... "The U.S. regime is very weak, and we are witnessing this weakness from close up."
 |
| Fidel Castro speaking at University of Tehran on May 10, 2001 |
What has this meant in concrete terms for the United States?
Newsweek reported on December 18, 2017 that the "Islamist militant group Hezbollah exploded into a major cocaine trafficker for the United States over the past decade—and it happened under President Barack Obama's watch to help score a nuclear deal with Iran, a report revealed Monday."
The Hezbollah office in Cuba is being established under direct orders from the current General Secretary Hasan Nasrallah, who replaced Musawi in 1992. According to the information available to this source, in preparation for establishment of the base, Nasrallah, working from inside of Lebanon, carried out secret negotiations with representatives of the Cuban Government, particularly the Cuban Intelligence Service (General Intelligence Directorate — DGI), agreeing to, maintain a very low profile inside of Cuba. Nasrallah also promised to take measures to avoid any trail of evidence that could lead back to Cuba in the event of a Hezbollah attack in Latin America.Furthermore, the Castro regime also has a long history of involvement in drug trafficking. There should be Congressional hearings exploring the operational Hezbollah base in Cuba and its possible involvement in drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, and terrorism in the region.
The previous Administration had a poor track record of politicizing reports to pursue political objectives. In the case of Cuba this meant watering down reports on human trafficking, looking the other way on connections to drug trafficking, terrorist groups and downplaying Cuba's role in Venezuela's crisis, and attempt to smuggle tons of heavy weapons to North Korea. It now appears that the practice was also repeated with Iran. Newsweek in the already mentioned December 18, 2017 report revealed the following:
"Project Cassandra, a campaign launched by the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2008, found that the Iran-backed military and political organization collected $1 billion a year from money laundering, criminal activities, and drug and weapons trade, according to Politico. Over the following eight years, the agency found that Hezbollah was involved in cocaine shipments from Latin America to West Africa, as well as through Venezuela and Mexico to the United States. The Obama administration halted Project Cassandra as it was approaching the upper echelons of Hezbollah’s conspiracy in order to seal a nuclear deal with Iran, even though Hezbollah was still funneling cocaine into America."On May 29, 2015 the Obama Administration took Cuba off the list of state sponsors of terrorism which was a mistake. Iran has been on the list of state terror sponsors since 1984 and should remain there.
The U.S. Congress and the Pompeo State Department should investigate what is going on in Cuba and its links to Hezbollah and other bad actors. If the regime in Cuba is continuing its pattern of sponsoring terrorism and international criminal enterprises then it should be returned to the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
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| Iran's Ahmadinejad with Communist Fidel Castro and Neo-Nazi David Duke |
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