ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Iranian leaders have given the go-ahead to a coalition of terrorists to attack American soil, in effect all but declaring war on the United States.

As I reported recently and according to a source in the Islamic regime’s intelligence apparatus, Iran created the Coalition of Muslim Soldiers to wreak havoc on the United States and its allies. The goal is to change the field of battle from the Middle East to the American homeland, and the opening salvos — if indeed the Boston bombing wasn’t the first — are due imminently unless U.S. authorities can short-circuit Tehran’s plans.

The source said the regime views the Boston bombing as a successful terrorist attack in which fear was created, U.S. intelligence was questioned and a sense of security was diminished. No link has been established yet to any group or nation for the Boston tragedy, which is the aim of this coalition of terrorists, formed by units of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, al Qaeda and Iran’s Quds Forces.

In a 2010 meeting, Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Forces; Seif Adel, the operational head of al Qaeda; and Mustafa Badr al-Din, the operational head of Hezbollah, devised a plan for continued terrorist operations against America under a new coalition, dubbed the Coalition of Muslim Soldiers. It includes al-Shabab, an al Qaeda offshoot based in Somalia, and has its central command in the Iranian city of Kerman.

After the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists in recent years and again with the increase in sanctions, the Islamic regime’s supreme leader warned that the country’s strategy had changed to face “threats with threats,” a subliminal message that the regime will go on the offensive with terrorist covert operations. More recently, a senior commander of the Islamic regime had warned that terrorism was coming to America.

“If the people of America and Europe do not confront the aggressive policies of their governments, they cannot then remain far from the possible future [terrorist attacks],” Brig. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, the regime’s armed forces deputy chief of staff, said in a Feb. 23 interview with Fars News Agency. Gen. Jazayeri, objecting to U.S. involvement in the Syrian civil war, warned that explosions similar to those in Syria would take place in other countries.

With the sanctions increasing the danger of an uprising against the regime, the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities and the fight to overthrow Bashar Assad in Syria, which Iran calls its red line, the regime gave the go-ahead to unleash its proxy terrorists on America and its economy and change the focus from the Middle East to America itself.

Targets have been chosen within America, and the terrorist teams have now cut communications with the operational center in Iran, a sign they are moving ahead with the attacks, according to a high-level intelligence officer within the regime.

Iran thinks that if even one of the attacks occurs, the operation would be a success and that it won’t be traced back to Iran because of the nationalities of the operatives, the source said.

Intelligence and infiltration by Western intelligence agencies into institutions, operations and cultural centers of radical Arab Islamists after Sept. 11, 2001, have discovered that the coalition is recruiting non-Arab Islamists from other nationalities and Arabs from countries not on the hot list of American agencies. Just look at the terrorist brothers who attacked the Boston Marathon.

Iranian leaders think the perception of security in America that has helped empower its actions in the Middle East must be turned 180 degrees, not only to derail all U.S. calculations, but to destabilize the political, economic and social conditions in America, the source said.

Since 2001, more than $270 million has been invested in mosques and Islamic centers in America by institutions in the Iranian city of Qom. As part of the coalition’s plan, 27 mosques and Islamic centers in America are its source for collaboration, infiltration and recruitment of sympathizers for various missions, including reconnaissance and terrorist acts.

I reported in April that the Quds Forces have done extensive planning on gatherings, events and high-value targets in the United States and run an extensive network of terrorists out of South Asia.

Iran is playing a dangerous game, one outside the scope of civilized nations. The Obama administration cannot afford to wait until another tragedy like the one in Boston happens.

At the very least, the regime should be put on notice that any terrorist attack on U.S. soil or interests around the world will have severe consequences. If the Iranian regime doesn’t end its pursuit of nuclear weapons and shut down its terrorist operations, the United States must isolate it economically so that its already-battered economy cries uncle — or so its already-fed-up population rises up against the tyranny of the clerics. If and when that happens, the United States must provide the people of Iran the support they need to bring down these international criminals.

If there is another attack on American soil, President Obama must use all the resources at his disposal to ascertain where the order to attack came from. When he does, he must go beyond sanctions and strike at the root of this evil.

Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and author of the award-winning book “A Time to Betray” (Simon & Schuster, 2010).

Sign up for Daily Opinion Newsletter Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.