Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

KHOMEINI, RUHALLAH MUSAWI AL • 357domestic and overseas offices and assets of the former Pahlavi Foundation,provided a support network for groups operating abroad. In June1981 Iran began sending IRGC units to the Bekaa valley in Lebanon,where training bases for Lebanese Shi’ites were established and thepro-Iranian militia Hezbollah was established. On 13 December 1981Bahrain uncovered and quashed an Iranian-sponsored plot to overthrowthat country’s government in favor of an Islamic republic.During 1983 the U.S. embassy in West Beirut, the U.S. Marine encampmentat Beirut International Airport, and the French and Israelimilitary headquarters in Lebanon were all car-bombed by Hezbollahvolunteer suicide bombers. Similar bombings were attempted inKuwait against the U.S. and French embassies. Beginning also in1983 but increasing in 1984 Hezbollah undertook a campaign of kidnappingU.S. nationals in Lebanon as a means of removing Westerninfluence from that country. Many of those hostages would not bereleased until December 1991.At Khomeini’s insistence, the Islamic Guidance Ministry of Iranon 26 May 1984 undertook a role in organizing an “independentbrigade for carrying out irregular warfare in enemy territory,” whichincluded references to plans to incite anti-Saudi rioting during theHajj pilgrimage ceremonies in Mecca. Such a riot on 31 July 1987killed more than 400 people in Mecca, causing the Saudi governmentto downgrade its diplomatic relations with Iran and to limit the sizeof future Iranian delegations of pilgrims.While it has been argued that Iran undertook support of terrorismagainst, and subversion of, other Arab and Muslim governments inreaction to their support of Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war, such anapology ignores the fact that Saddam Hussein decided to invadeIran partly in reaction to Iranian agitation of Iraq’s Shi’ites alreadyunder way, which included an assassination attempt against the Iraqideputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, on 1 April 1980 by Iranian agents.Likewise, other Arab regimes supported Iraq because of their fear ofthe threat of Iranian-sponsored subversion against them.In late 1988 Khomeini authorized the Iranian government to accepta United Nations–sponsored cease-fire with Iraq. This signaledno retreat from a willingness to use terrorism as an instrument ofpolicy since, on 14 February 1989, Khomeini issued a fatwa of takfiragainst British author Salman Rushdie, sentencing him to death oncharges of blasphemy arising from the publication of his book The