US list of state sponsors of terrorism

April 28, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — The State Department’s annual report on terrorism, released Friday, lists six countries as state sponsors of terror, subject to U.S. sanctions. Following are the countries and excerpts from the report:

– Cuba: Cuba actively continued to oppose the U.S.-led coalition prosecuting the global war on terror and has publicly condemned various U.S. policies and actions…Cuba did not undertake any counterterrorism efforts in international and regional fora. Official government statements and the government-controlled press rarely speak out against al-Qaida or other designated foreign terrorist organizations.

– Iran: Iran remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism. Its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Ministry of Intelligence and Security were directly involved in the planning and support of terrorist acts and continued to exhort a variety of groups, especially Palestinian groups with leadership cadres in Syria and Lebanese Hezbollah, to use terrorism in pursuit of their goals. In addition, the IRGC was increasingly involved in supplying lethal assistance to Iraqi militant groups, which destabilizes Iraq.

– Libya: Libya continued to cooperate with the United States and the international community in the fight against terrorism…The United States continued to evaluate Libya’s assurances to halt the use of violence for political purposes in light of allegations that Libyan officials attempted to facilitate the assassination of then-Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in 2003.

– North Korea: The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) is not known to have sponsored any terrorist acts since the bombing of a Korean Airlines flight in 1987. Pyongyang in 2003 allowed the return to Japan of five surviving abductees, and in 2004 of eight family members, mostly children, of those abductees. Questions about the fate of other abductees remain the subject of ongoing negotiations between Japan and the DPRK.

– Sudan: Sudan continued its cooperative commitment against known and suspected international terrorist elements believed to be operating in and out of Sudanese territory…Sudan’s history of having played host in the mid-1990s to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden continues to weigh heavily in the objective assessment of Sudan’s role in international terrorism, but there is no indication that al-Qaida elements have had a presence in Sudan with the knowledge and consent of the Sudanese Government for at least the past five years…Continued focus was placed on Sudan for its role in contributing fighters for the Iraqi insurgency.

– Syria: The Syrian government continued to provide political and material support to both Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorist groups…The Syrian government has not been implicated directly in an act of terrorism since 1986, although preliminary findings of a U.N. investigation into the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri have indicated a strong likelihood of official Syrian involvement…Syria made efforts to limit the movement of foreign fighters into Iraq.