The United States is clandestinely funding militant groups within Iran’s borders to destabilize the country, The Daily Telegraph says.
According to the daily, CIA officials are secretly funding militias among the numerous ethnic minorities clustered in Iran’s border regions in order to mount pressure on the country to give up its nuclear program.
Funding for their separatist causes comes directly from the CIA’s classified budget but is now”no great secret”, according to one former high-ranking CIA official in Washington speaking anonymously to The Sunday Telegraph.
“The latest attacks inside Iran fall in line with US efforts to supply and train Iran’s ethnic minorities to destabilize the Iranian regime,”said Fred Burton, a former US State Department counter-terrorism agent.
Some of the groups have resorted to terrorist methods. These include the notorious Mujahedin Khalq Organization [MKO] which has a long and bloody history of targeting Iranian civilians and government officials alike.
Another group claimed to be supported by the CIA is the Jundullah organization known for attacking high-profile Iranian targets, especially government and security officials.
Although Washington officially denies involvement in such activity, Tehran has long maintained that it has detected the hand of both US and Britain in guerrilla attacks on internal security forces.
Daily Telegraph, reported by Press TV, February 24, 2008 -http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=44463§ionid=351020101