Iran planned Boston bombings for 2 years

By Reza Kahlili

Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Forces, ordered reconnaissance and intelligence gathering on various events and public gatherings in the United States years ago, culminating in the bombings at the Boston Marathon one week ago, WND has learned.

According to a source within Iran’s intelligence services, the Islamic regime’s Quds Forces, a special unit of the Revolutionary Guards in charge of extraterritorial operations, have done extensive planning on gatherings, events and high-value targets in the United States for some time, but for two years focused on events such as the Boston Marathon.

The source had earlier provided information that tied the Islamic regime to the Boston attack and pointed to the collaboration of the regime’s Quds Forces with the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah and elements of al-Qaida with links to an operational center in South Asia. He said that under Quds Force guidance, Hezbollah recruited sympathizers through collaborators connected to South Asia for terrorist activities in the U.S.

Another source in December told WND that the Quds Forces had drawn up plans for terrorist attacks in the U.S. starting within six months and that an operational team was in the United States to prepare for the attacks. He also said then that suicide bombers and potential terrorists were ready to attack Canada and European countries, including France and England.

In Canada, police said today they had foiled a terror plot. They reported that the two accused in the case were getting “direction and guidance” from al-Qaida elements in Iran.

The plan was to be automatically launched if America did not accept Iran’s nuclear program, if sanctions increased or a military confrontation took place. The regime felt it must act because current sanctions, which have already devastated Iran’s economy, could spark civilian rioting.

“Jihad in America: The Grand Deception,” is what to read when you really need to know the enemy’s strategy.

Another worry for the regime, the December source said, was that the push to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad would be a big blow to the Islamic regime and its activities in the region.

Editor’s note: Because of its importance, this writer immediately contacted Congressman Peter King at home and informed the New York Republican of the imminent threat. He urged that I contact his office the next day. The conversation was held with his aide, Kevin Caroll, who was not receptive and mostly dismissive.

Ultimately the information was shared with two U.S. agencies, which took the warning seriously. However, despite weeks of extensive work with the agencies, the informant could not provide accurate details of any specific operation.

But days before the Boston bombing, the source said, “My words will be proven.”

The new source in the Guards intelligence unit said the regime’s Quds Forces collaborated with Hezbollah and their operational centers in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The operational support teams on the Boston bombings can be linked to those centers, he said.

He also said those centers are actively recruiting a new wave of terrorists from non-Arabs and from Islam’s Sunni sect to avoid any trace back to Shiite Iran and Hezbollah and to either present an apparent link to al-Qaida or individuals acting on their own.

Their goal, he said, is to divert attention to Saudi Arabia and other Sunni countries that are in a proxy war with Iran over leadership in the region. As Iran is trying to destabilize Bahrain, Yemen and Saudi Arabia itself, those countries are trying to destabilize Syria, where Saudi Arabia and other Sunni states hope to oust Assad and confront Hezbollah.

Iran is prepared to continue such attacks within the U.S. homeland to create fear and uncertainty and divert America’s push to stop Iran’s nuclear program and oust Assad, he said.

In that regard, Iran extended its recruitment operations to the Caucasus, Dagestan and Chechnya, a move that Russia has denounced. Iran also has a major operational center in Azerbaijan, where tensions between that government and the Islamic regime remain high. Many terrorists have been arrested within Azerbaijan.

As previously reported, the two brothers who set off the bombs at the Boston Marathon were assets of a bigger network and were set up to be burned so there would be no link back to their handlers – and Iran. The source added that in the view of the Islamic regime, the terrorist attack in Boston was a success because U.S. homeland security was breached, much fear was created, and international media spread details of the attack — all with no direct link to the regime itself.

Based on information from a former member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards intelligence unit who defected to a Scandinavian country, it was reported last year that the Islamic regime’s agents were active in the U.S. and were working to acquire intelligence that might be useful in terror attacks. The agents work on Americans who have converted to Islam with offers of a trip to the Iranian city of Qom, the site of hotbed seminaries and the center of Shia theology, where they are brainwashed and offered collaboration. The agents also use Islamic centers and mosques in the U.S. and other countries to recruit assets. The information was shared with U.S. officials.

An Iranian media site connected to the Quds Forces today reacted to WND’s exclusive report on April 16 that blamed the regime for the Boston attack, without denying the connection between the Chechen brothers to networks related to Hezbollah and the Quds Forces. The site likened the WND report to previous “claims” by the Obama administration about the terror plot on a Saudi diplomat in America, which it claimed was mocked internationally.

The source said the lack of a serious response by the Obama administration to that terror plot by Iran had only emboldened the regime to become more aggressive with its terrorist activities.

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Reza Kahlili

Reza Kahlili, author of the award-winning book "A Time to Betray," served in CIA Directorate of Operations, as a spy in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, counterterrorism expert; currently serves on the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, an advisory board to Congress and the advisory board of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran (FDI). He regularly appears in national and international media as an expert on Iran and counterterrorism in the Middle East. Read more of Reza Kahlili's articles here.


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