Iran's deadly exports

[Spiraling Leopard]

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On Sunday, Malta released the last of five Iranian ships it had seized on a tip from the German police. Maltese authorities said the vessels were carrying "unauthorized cargo," a euphemism for weapons, in violation of four UN Security Council resolutions.
It was just the latest event in a string that suggests the current leaders in Iran have decided to answer the "Arab Spring" of democratic revolutions with a renewed drive to foment Islamic revolution abroad.
Almost at the same time as the ships were released, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheik Abdullah bin Zayed, accused Iran of "conspiring to destabilize the Gulf states" by smuggling guns and saboteurs.

The sheik was especially concerned about reports that agitators from Lebanon have been smuggled into Bahrain via Iran with the goal of attacking troops and police officers from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait.
Last week, Kuwait leveled similar accusations against the Islamic Republic and expelled three senior Iranian diplomats. According to Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheik Muhammad al-Sabah, the three were involved in a "ring of espionage and sabotage."
And last week, Turkey seized "a substantial cargo of weapons" that Iran was sending to Syria, presumably for transshipment to the Lebanese branch of Hezbollah. Last month, Israel seized the ship Victoria in the Mediterranean to stop a cargo of weapons destined for the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza.
In February, the Afghan authorities stopped a convoy of trucks supposedly carrying humanitarian aid from Iran. Some turned out to have concealed compartments full of weapons destined for pro-Iran groups in the Hazara Mountains west of Kabul. In Afghanistan, the International Security and Assistance Force has a vast collection of roadside bombs manufactured in Iran and supplied to the Taliban.
In Iraq, too, arms from Iran have been used for killing American and Iraqi troops since 2003.
Last October, Nigeria seized "a substantial quantity of arms" from Iran en route for Islamist rebels in Casamance, southern Senegal. Last week, Azim Aqajan -- a senior Iranian diplomat in Nigeria -- went on trial on charges of smuggling arms and falsifying customs documents.
Not surprisingly, Tehran denies that it has ever tried to smuggle arms to any groups and describes the cases above as "misunderstandings." Ala al-Din Borujerdi, chairman of the Islamic parliament's foreign-affairs committee, recently accused the Gulf Arab states of trying to "foment tension and create misunderstanding."
While Iran regards "exporting revolution" as a "sacred duty," he said, it would not intervene in the domestic affairs of any country.
In 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared exporting the Islamic revolution to be "the primary goal" of his new Islamic Republic. Since then, the issue has been a major topic of ideological debate within the Khomeinist establishment.
Some, like ex-President Muhammad Khatami, argue that the Islamic Republic can't be safe unless it persuades other Muslim nations to take the path of Islamic revolution. "If we remain alone we will always be in danger," says Hassan Abbasi, one of Tehran's leading strategists. "Our system will also be in danger if most Muslim nations take the path of Western-style democracy."
The current pro-democracy uprising in Arab countries has rattled the nerves of the Khomeinist leadership in Tehran. But it has also strengthened the position of those who argue for a more active policy of "exporting the Islamic revolution."
In a speech in Damascus last Thursday, Hamas leader Khaled Meshal provided an insight into the current debate in Tehran. "Our Iranian brothers want us to intensify the struggle and, together with our Syrian brothers, are ready to help us in every way," he said.
According to Maj.-Gen. Hassan Firuzabadi, chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, arming and financing groups like Hamas and Hezbollah is not only a way to export the revolution but also part of Iran's own defense strategy. "By fighting our enemies, these groups ultimately fight for us," Firuzabadi said in a recent speech in Tehran. "If we fight enemies far from our borders, we would not have to fight them at home. What we spend on these groups is peanuts in terms of our expenditure on security."
However, exporting revolution also has its opponents in Tehran. Former Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki argues that it is time that the Islamic Republic recast itself as a status-quo power working for stability in the region. "It is vital that our revolution finds its expression as a state," he said in an interview last month.
Who wins the debate in Tehran will reverberate through the region.