Iraq Claims to Have Disrupted an Iran-Linked Terror Network

Iraq claims to have dismantled a terror network responsible for a series of attacks inside Iraqi territory, which, according to Iraqi officials, was operating on behalf of the Iranian government. Iraqi state television aired what it described as the confession of two Iraqi men arrested in connection with this case. The two men stated on television that they had been trained in several cities in Iran in the use of weapons and explosives and had participated in a series of sabotage operations and attacks on Iraqi government facilities in Baghdad and southern Iraq following the 1991 war. The two men confessed that after the September 11 attacks on the United States, they were ordered to go to Baghdad and exploit any American attacks against Iraq. Iran has not immediately responded to these allegations. The two countries, Iran and Iraq, were engaged in a bloody and devastating war from 1980 to 1988, and although they have recently taken steps towards normalizing relations, tensions between the two countries still exist, with each harboring the other's opponents.