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Iranians ID targets to
‘end Anglo-Saxon civilization
WASHINGTON - The
Iranian-sponsored terrorist organization Hezbollah'
threats to attack U.S. interests around the world are
being taken seriously by U.S. law enforcement and
intelligence officials who say the group's agents have
attempted illegal entry into the country through the
southern border and have staked out 20 potential sensitive
targets that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasted
could "end Anglo-Saxon civilization.
"We have 2,000 volunteers who have registers since last
year, Hezbollah spokesman Mojtaba Bigdeli told Reuters
recently. "They have been trained and they can become
fully armed. We are ready to dispatch them to every corner
of the world to jeopardize Israel and America's interests.
We are only waiting for the supreme leader's green light
to take action. If America wants to ignite World War
III ... we welcome it."
 The
"supreme leader" is Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei.
Hezbollah and Iranian officials are known for their
hyperbolic rhetoric, but U.S. officials say it would be a
mistake to dismiss them categorically. In fact, one senior
source has said he would characterize the latest Hezbollah
threats as "serious."
FBI Director Robert Mueller confirmed earlier this spring
that Hezbollah agents were caught trying to enter the
country illegally through the Mexican border.
Likewise, James Woolsey, former director of the Central
Intelligence Agency, testified before the Senate Judiciary
Committee in February that "Ahmadinejad who is close to
Hezbollah, says that he knows of the 29 sensitive sites in
the U.S. and the West, which he has spied out and is ready
to attack in order to, quote: 'End Anglo-Saxon
civilization."
In May - long before
the recent escalation of conflict with Israel -- more than
100 "martyrdom-seeking volunteers" affiliated with Iran's
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps gathered to warn the
U.S. they would blow up American interests around the
world if their country's nuclear installations came under
attack.
Mohammad-Ali Samadi, spokesman for a
government-orchestrated campaign to recruit suicide
bombers, said more than 55,000 volunteers had been
registered.
The group -- called the
Headquarters to Commemorate the Martyrs of the Global
Islamic Movement -- was established in 2004 to carry out
suicide attacks against three targets: "The infidels
occupying Iraq," Israel and author Salman Rushdie.
In February, it launched a new recruitment drive to fight
"global blasphemy."
Iran estimated then
that Israel would strike Tehran's nuclear facilities
within a year and has been planning retaliatory attacks
against Israeli, American and British interests, according
to senior Lebanese political sources.
The sources said while
Iran is expecting lone Israeli military action, Iranian
intelligence estimates the Jewish state is coordinating a
planned attack with the U.S.
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