The Quds: Iran's shadowy terrorist trainers

The alleged plot to target the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. while in Washington, D.C. was allegedly run by the secretive military group called the Quds Force.

The Quds Force is a sort of subdivision of the Iranian National Guard  thought to number 15,000 men. It has a specific mission: To support and train terrorists and insurgents outside Iran.

We have no pictures of them, and that's the point. They're a shadowy, secretive force, but we can see the results of some of their operations.

In 1994, a bomb destroyed the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in Argentina, killing 85 people.

Evidence suggested the attack was planned and executed by the Quds force.

In 2007, deadly explosive charges started showing up in Iraq, so sophisticated that they were able to pierce America's extra-armored vehicles.

Holder: Iran aimed to bomb Saudi ambassador

President Bush himself pointed the finger at the Quds force.

"I can say with certainty that the Quds force, a part of the Iranian government, has provided these sophisticated IEDs that have harmed our troops," Mr. Bush said at the time.

This shadowy unit is led by Brigadier General Qassem Soleimani, who was designated a supporter of terrorism by the U.S. State Department in 2007.

He doesn't answer to any elected official, but to Iran's chief cleric, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

His force, which is believed to fund itself in part through smuggling, also supports the militant armed wing of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

People who watch the Quds Force closely say that the alleged attack plot in Washington is unusually brazen for them and represents an unprecedented provocation.

[oldman67]

The CIA is and has been training and supporting the MEK for years in Iran. Not to mention the Bauchi Rebels, anoter terrorist group. Wonder who has been assassinating all of the Iranian nuclear scientist. Surely not the CIA nor Mossad. They wouldn't do that. Would they?i am sure coporate America doesn't have their eyes on the largest gas fields in the world nor the oil fields of Iran. It would be another country for more US basesfrom which to attack china or Russian in the future. The American Empire has to continue to expand.

[jpminnc]

re Bush "I can say with certainty . . . " Bush said a lot of things with certainty that turned out not to be true, sometimes accompanied with false evidence. There seems to be a fair amount of evidence in this case, but it's still hard to tell who's scamming who. Israel has been itching for a pretext to attack Iran: this seems very convenient.

[MotocrossSurvivor]

You got that right. Things are falling into place rather nicely for the United States of Israel, wouldn't you say? The dimwitted American morons eat it up like catfish.

[Logical123]

I have a lake in the middle of Pacific Ocean to sell to anyone who believes Holder's story. It is simply preposterous to think that Iran would be involved in such a harebrained scheme. It is clearly another plot to inflame Iranophobia.

[kiljare]

Why would we need some plot to turn people against Iran? They have a total of like 5 allies in the world right now and the list grows smaller with each Arab country that revolts. Personally I don't fear Iran..they are more like the gnats at a baseball game that you have a hard time swatting.

[Logical123]

kiljare: Now, you really show your ignorance. Iran has trade with at least 160 countries around the world. Its trade with Europe actually went up the last few years. It has enormous trade with China and supplies a large portion of oil imports to India. It even has trade with the US.

Beyond trade, the 110 countries of the non-aligned movement have consistently supported the Iranian nuclear program. Also, because Iran doesn't depend on the US for much, it has been immune to the US financial and economic crisis. So, just keep dreaming.

[AlEDorman]

We're the terrorist trainers, don't you get it, Scott Pelley?!

[doglover112]

Better keep your head down there, Brigadier General Qassem Soleimani - you may be having breakfast with a drone bomb one fine morning.

[MotocrossSurvivor]

Let me guess. This will put Iran on the U.S.-Israel docket for bombing. No surprise that we're seeing the Zionist mainstream American media playing up the boogeyman Iran thing. Even the President answers directly to Tel Aviv. It is all rather disgusting. The Founding Fathers are bouncing in their graves.

[MotocrossSurvivor]

"let me guess. you are a freakin ******* muslim scumbag"

I'm an American whose ancestors go back to before 1776 in this country. But keep watching that TV boy, and giving the brilliant comments between burps. You'll impress your friends, dilweed.

[kiljare]

LOL moto, i needed a good laugh,thanks! Zionist media, what a sham that is. Iran deserves to be bombed quite a bit, but it aint gonna happen anytime soon unless they try something extremely stupid like attack a ship.

[Logical123]

kiljare said: "Iran deserves to be bombed quite a bit, but it aint gonna happen anytime soon unless they try something extremely stupid like attack a ship." Well, I remember a ship called USS Liberty that was bombed by Israel. What did we do about it?

[brucearnold]

In a related report, "federal officials" (a term which can include U.S. Park Service toilet attendants in training) stated they have reliable but uncomfirmed and therefore non-actionable information that Mickey Mouse, an American-born celluloid activist believed to have ties to several Middle Eastern cheese exporters, has been preparing to deploy an IED (instantly erect device) in a suspected security breach within the outskirts of what Oxymoron (our new military intelligence clearinghouse) had previously reported to be his terrorist co-conspirator, Minnie Mouse.

[Edward_Norton]

On CNN, why did Peter King just declare this an "attempted attack on the US"? Does this mean we're going to "have to" invade Iran now? Something's a bit fishy here.