Title: State-Sponsored Terrorism | Encyclopedia.com
Headings: State-Sponsored Terrorism
State-Sponsored Terrorism
State-sponsored Terrorism
International state-sponsored terrorism
Iran
Words to Know
Coup d'etat:
Junta:
Secret police:
Socialism:
Totalitarian:
Iraq
Libya
Syria
Sudan
North Korea
Cuba
The Cold War
The Contras
State terrorism versus government repression
Domestic state terrorism
Operation Condor
The desaparecidos

Content: The purpose of this list, the government says, is to put pressure on nations that either use terrorism or that support terrorist groups. The government also maintains a list of independent foreign terrorist organizations. Governments that support these organizations or do not help in efforts to arrest their members may be placed on the State Department's list. In the months following the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., the State Department had seven countries on its list of governments that engage in state-sponsored terrorism: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Cuba, North Korea, and Sudan. Iran
In 1979 a fundamentalist Muslim religious leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (pronounced koh-MAY-nee; c. 1900–1989), rose to power in Iran on the tide of a revolution and declared an Islamic government in Iran. The previous ruler of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1919–1980), had ruled for several decades as an ally of the United States, but major outbreaks of rioting in Iran's cities forced him to flee the country. Khomeini resented the political and economic influence the United States had on Iran. Once the Shah was out of power, Khomeini strove to make Iran's break with the United States complete: