Yoram Ettinger is a former minister for congressional affairs at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, and a consultant to Israeli and U.S. legislators. In an interview with American Family News, Ettinger warns that time is of the essence if the U.S. has any hope of effectively defusing Iran's objective to bring America into submission.
Currently, Iran is blaming the United States for stalled nuclear talks in Vienna. Ettinger admits he understands that preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power is gravely important and "indeed would be catastrophic for the globe." But the Iranian military, explains the retired ambassador, need not stand toe-to-toe with the U.S. military to inflict harm on the country it considers to be "the Great Satan" because of a persistent targeting recognized as "narco-jihad" – a form of terrorism based on the smuggling of dangerous and addictive drugs into the U.S.
"Iran has constituted a clear and present danger to the U.S. through their drug trafficking, terrorism, and subversion – particularly throughout Latin America," he explains. "It has coalesced very effective strategic alliances with every single anti-American government" – and has established "very effective cooperation" with the drug cartels of Latin America.
That includes countries like Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and others – as well as "major strategic trilateral areas" like Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. And the trilateral border areas in particular, says Ettinger, are operating "just like a typical lawless area, attracting illicit entities and organizations among them."
Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist organization, is aiding collaboration in many of these areas. Lebanese migrants and Shiite migrants are leveraged to help the Iranian regime by the terror proxy, Ettinger notes. For example, he says, their businesses have been used to conduct money-laundering operations.
"The ayatollahs of Iran, Hezbollah terrorists, and drug cartels of Latin America have established a joint operation between Latin America and West Africa," he points out. "West Africa has become a venue for Latin American drug cartels to proliferate drugs all the way to Europe."
Closer to the United States, Ettinger says, "Venezuela has served as a vehicle to advance their aim" – and the lead partners for drugs moving from this area have been the cartels in Mexico, he explains.
"Mexican drug cartels have been the most effective partners for ayatollahs of Iran, [and] is a logical partner because of its proximity to what [the Iranians] consider to be their number-one enemy – the United States," he tells AFN.
Not only is Iran targeting the United States and Europe through narco-jihad, Ettinger says they have also established "a multitude of terrorist sleeper cells" in both regions.
Warning: Wake up to reality
The former ambassador contends that many in the West consider Iran's jihadist efforts – regardless the form – to be "part of a 1,400-year-old fanatic vision [or] delusion type of vision." However, he warns, "it must be taken very serious because they firmly believe it and they're acting upon it."
"They want to bring the America to submission," Ettinger concludes, "and the faster the U.S. wakes up to that reality, the more effective is going to be the battle to stop and to topple the ayatollahs of Iran."
