Iran's Terror Connections

Today's top nuclear policy stories, with excerpts in bullet form.

Stories we're following today: Friday, July 29, 2011.

Is Iran Working with Al Qaeda? And is there a Qatari connection? - Blake Hounshell in Foreign Policy [link]

• The Treasury Department today named six alleged al Qaeda operatives that it said were members of a network that worked to facilitate the moving of "money, facilitators and operatives from across the Middle East to South Asia" in cooperation with the government of Iran.
• If so, [they’re] not doing such a great job, as al Qaeda's branch in Iraq has recently complained of going broke, and U.S. counterterrorism officials claim the group is on the verge of defeat in Pakistan.
• Leah Farrell, a leading al Qaeda expert based in Australia, tweeted that she was skeptical of the Treasury designation, and suggested it might be motivated by a U.S. desire to put pressure on Iran.
• "Past reports have been poorly sourced and containing serious inaccuracies," she said. "I know about some of these people. They're not new and the reality is far more complex."

Al Qaeda in Iran - Wall Street Journal Editorial [link]

• That there have long been links between al Qaeda and the government of Iran isn't exactly news … Yet it was only yesterday that the U.S. government formally acknowledged the connection between the world's most dangerous terrorist group and the leading state sponsor of terrorism.
• Above all, it's a reminder of why a regime that has no qualms serving as al Qaeda's facilitator can on no account be permitted to build a nuclear bomb.

House Panel Funds State Department Nonproliferation Efforts - Global Security Newswire [link]

• A key congressional panel on Wednesday approved a fiscal 2012 spending plan that would fully fund the U.S. State Department's nonproliferation and antiterrorism accounts.
• The budget blueprint … would provide more than $708.5 million … part of a larger appropriations measure that would provide the State Department and the Agency for International Development with $47.2 billion for the budget year that begins on October 1.
• A full breakdown of the accounts contained within the appropriations bill will be made available 24 hours before the full House Appropriations Committee considers the legislation … expected to happen on August 3.

The North’s Nuclear Card - Kang Young-jin in the Korea Joongang Daily [link]

• North Korea thinks it has earned a lot by using the nuclear card. However, in the long run, it may have lost more than it gained by obsessing over its nuclear program.
• Historically, no society or state survived very long by refusing to accept the changes of the time. Regrettably, the nuclear card seems to be the cause - and result - of North Korea’s failure to adapt to the changing times.

Preliminary U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Trade Talks Set for Next Week - Elaine Grossman in Global Security Newswire [link]

• The Obama administration expects next week to launch initial talks with Saudi Arabia aimed at appraising prospects for a civil nuclear trade agreement.
• A so-called "123 agreement" … could offer Saudi Arabia access to advanced U.S. nuclear energy technologies, materials and know-how.
• … nonproliferation advocates widely oppose such a deal based on concerns that Riyadh might exploit U.S. atomic materials and expertise to eventually help develop a nuclear weapon.
• "After publicly insisting that Saudi Arabia must get the bomb if Iran does, anything Saudi Arabia promises in the way of nuclear restraint would have to [be] taken with a ton of salt," said Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center.