Iranian regime undermines security of the neighbors by smuggling weapons

Source: al-shorfa.com website sponsored by USCENTCOM
Iranian-trained smugglers and weapons seized in Bahrain and Yemen signal Iran’s goal of undermining the security and stability of neighboring Arab countries, officials say.
In late December, Bahraini security forces intercepted a vessel at sea carrying a shipment of Iranian- and Syrian-made weapons and ammunition that was being transported via Iraq.
Bahraini security agencies seized weapons and explosives found on the boat, which was detected off the north-east coast of Bahrain, said chief of public security Maj. Gen. Tareq al-Hassan.
These included 50 Iranian-made grenades and 295 explosive devices connected to switches labelled “Made in Syria”, he said.
A Bahraini citizen residing in Iraq co-ordinated the operation, while two Bahraini citizens carried out the smuggling of weapons, al-Hassan told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
“Preliminary investigations into four of those arrested revealed that they received training in Iran and Iraq on the manufacture and smuggling of explosives,” he said.
The Yemeni coast guard also had arrested Iranian-trained smugglers when it intercepted an arms-laden vessel “from Iran” in Yemeni territorial waters in January 2013.
In mid-November, a Yemeni court issued prison sentences to nine of the vessel’s crew members.
The specialised criminal court in Aden sentenced the crew members to between one and 10 years on charges of “collaborating with Iran” and “smuggling weapons from Iran to Yemen” aboard the ship named Jihane.
The defendants testified in court they had received training in Iranian camps on the use of weapons and explosives, sniper techniques, urban warfare, maritime navigation and the use of advanced communications equipment, according to the official Yemeni news agency Saba.
IRAN’S EXPORT OF ‘DESTRUCTION AND HORROR’
There is a strong correlation between Iran’s export of “instruments of destruction and horror” to Bahrain and Yemen, said Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, chairman of the Bahraini Shura Council’s committee on foreign affairs, defence and national security.
This signals Iran’s goal of “undermining the security and stability of the region in order to advance its expansionist interests,” he told Al-Shorfa.
With these arms shipments, Iran aims to sow strife and weaken surrounding Arab countries by embroiling them in conflicts and igniting civil wars, as is happening now in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, Al Khalifa said.
Arab countries, and Gulf States in particular, must curtail these types of operations by strengthening the mechanisms used to monitor land, sea and air inlets and the movement of funds in their communities, he said.
Countries in the region also must increase co-operation between their governments and security and intelligence agencies on strategic and logistical levels, and exchange information on all suspicious movements, he added.
“The only thing that will restrain Iran’s ambitions in the region is the adoption of a number of strategic projects,” said Bahrain parliament member Abdul Hakim al-Shammary.
“Foremost among these is the formation of a real security union that includes the political and military leaderships” of countries in the region, he told Al-Shorfa.
Iran is attempting to gain a foothold in Arab countries by undermining their security defences and penetrating their sea inlets, said Sheikh Abdullah al-Maqabi, a Bahraini cleric and advisor to the Bahraini Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments.
“The weapons-smuggling from Iraq to Bahrain and to Yemen is but one of these attempts and plots [by Iran] to take control of the Arab Gulf countries, and use Bahrain as a gateway to dominate the Gulf region and impose its authority,” he told Al-Shorfa.
Al-Maqabi urged Gulf countries and Yemen to be on the alert, to monitor Iran’s movements in territorial waters and to establish a unified Gulf institute to study its regional aspirations.