Iranian covert aggression: Support for radical political Islamists conducting internal subversion against states in the Middle East/Southwest Asia region

The extent to which the Islamic Republic of Iran provides covert assistance to radical Islamist groups employing terrorism and violence against states in the Middle East/Southwest Asia region is a controversial issue. This study takes an analytic approach to the topic to determine the degree to which linkages exist. The evidence examined was drawn exclusively from open sources. The author provides an analytic framework for both current and future analysis of the issue. Five specific conclusions about past, present, and impending Iranian sponsorship of radical Islamists conducting internal subversion activities in the region are deduced from the assessment of the evidence. Given the consistency in Tehran's use of covert aggression as an instrument of foreign policy since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, there is little to indicate a change in this policy in the near term.