Iran Willing to Attack US: Report

Director of National Intelligence thinks Iran is 'plotting against US interests'
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 31, 2012 10:43 AM CST
Iran Willing to Attack US: Report
FBI Director Robert Mueller, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and CIA Director David Petraeus appear before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill January 31, 2012.   (Getty Images)

Iran no longer appears to have any reservations about launching attacks on US soil, National Intelligence Director James Clapper said in Senate testimony today. The new assessment is based in part on Iran's alleged attempt to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the US. The incident "shows that some Iranian officials—probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei—have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States," Clapper said, according to the Washington Post.

"We are also concerned about Iranian plotting against US or allied interests overseas," he added. But the news wasn't all bad; Clapper said that the US was in a "critical transitional phase for the terrorist threat." Al-Qaeda is breaking apart, and will now likely focus on "smaller, simpler plots," instead of mass-casualty ones. Yemen affiliate al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, meanwhile, has had its international ambitions stymied by Anwar al-Awlaki's death. (More al-Qaeda stories.)

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