After 9/11 the Iranian regime scaled back its global terror operations and networks. Those operations and networks, according to the recently published State Department annual report on terrorism, have been restored:

“Iran and Hezbollah’s terrorist activity has reached a tempo unseen since the 1990s, with attacks plotted in Southeast Asia, Europe, and Africa,” the report said. It noted suspected Hezbollah plots in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Thailand, Georgia, Kenya and India.

The report’s release came the same day as Iranian-born Texas car salesman Manssor Arbabsiar was sentenced to 25 years in prison for plotting to murder the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States. The State Department cited Arbabsiar’s thwarted plot as “demonstrat[ing] Iran’s interest in using international terrorism – including in the United States – to further its foreign policy goals.”

The report is here. It also notes that Israel “continued to be a stalwart counterterrorism partner in 2012,” and that the Jewish State faced massive terrorist pressure:

Israel continued to be a stalwart counterterrorism partner in 2012. It faced continued terrorist threats from Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), particularly from Gaza but also from the West Bank; and from Hizballah in Lebanon. Fourteen Israelis were killed as a result of terrorist attacks in 2012… The Government of Israel responded to these threats with operations directed at terrorist leaders, infrastructure, and activities such as rocket launching, most notably in Operation Pillar of Defense during the November 14-21 Gaza conflict.

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