The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) and its thousands of members are deeply distressed that 38 Senators are now planning to vote for the catastrophic Iran deal.  This minority of the Senate would subvert the will of the majority of Congress and the two-thirds of the American people who are opposed to the dangerous Iran deal.  During this week leading up to the anniversary of 9-11, we urge these 38 Senators to search their souls and reconsider, while bearing in mind that Iran played a major, key role in the worst terrorist attack on American soil – and that the Iran deal provides Iran with the wherewithal to finance hundreds of thousands new 9-11s in addition to a nuclear Holocaust.

Iran initiated the planning for 9/11 in the mid-1980s.  Al Qaeda joined forces with Iran almost a decade later.  9/11 would not have occurred and succeeded without Iranian planning and training and facilitation of al Qaeda.

In the Havlish v. Bin Laden case (2011), a U.S. federal district court in Manhattan found that the Islamic Republic of Iran, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khameni, Iranian agencies including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), and Iran’s proxy Hezbollah materially and directly supported al Qaeda in perpetrating the September 11, 2001 attacks.  The court held that these Iranian entities and proxies were legally responsible for damages to hundreds of family members of 9/11 victims.  Evidence in the Havlish case obtained during a seven-year investigation, including from the 9/11 Commission recommendations, from prior cases against Iran (which confirmed Iran’s role in terrorist attacks), and from experts and informants, demonstrated, among other things, that:

1.  Iran and al Qaeda Formed A Longstanding Terror Alliance:  Iran, al Qaeda and Hezbollah formed a terror alliance in the early 1990s.  (finding of fact #77)  In 1993, Al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri met directly with Iran’s master terrorist Imad Mughniyah, Iranian officials and Iran Revolutionary Guard Corp officials in Khartoum, Sudan, where Iran, Hezbollah and al Qaeda worked out an alliance of joint cooperation and support for terrorism activities.  (Finding of fact #79; expert testimony #262)  The Iran-Hezbollah-al Qaeda terrorist alliance worked together to perpetrate a string of terrorist strikes against the United States throughout the 1990s, including the the Khobar Towers bombing, the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the U.S.S. Cole bombing, etc.; Iranian/Hezbollah operations chief Imad Mugniyeh provided explosives, operational planning and training for all these al Qaeda attacks on America.   On many occasions, Iranian authorities helped pass weaponry and reinforcements to al Qaeda’s #2 leader Ayman al Zawahiri, responsible for 9/11 planning.  The Iran-Hezbollah-al Qaeda terrorist alliance continued to work together and through and after September 11, 2011.  (Finding of fact #86, citing the 9/11 Report, p. 61 and numerous affidavits; findings of fact 90-115; expert testimony #247, 267)

2.  Iran & Hezbollah trained al Qaeda, including al Qaeda Saudi Nationals:  Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden sent senior al Qaeda operatives and trainers to Iran, where the al Qaeda operatives and trainers received training from the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps, and to Lebanon for training by Iranian proxy Hezbollah.  Iran and Hezbollah trained al Qaeda to handle sophisticated explosives, bomb large buildings, and in intelligence and security, and transformed bin Laden from a guerrilla fighter into an accomplished terrorist.   Iranian and Hezbollah trainers traveled between Iran and Afghanistan to transfer to al Qaeda operatives blueprints and drawings for bombs, equipment manuals, and instructions for avoiding detection by drones.  The al Qaeda-Iran-Hezbollah training arrangement continued throughout the 1990s.  (Findings of fact #78, 82-89, 107, 112-113; expert testimony #263, 266)

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps maintained a separate terrorist training camp for al Qaeda Saudi nationals, first controlled by Iranian intelligence.  (Finding of fact #89)

3.  Iran & Hezbollah Facilitated Travel by al Qaeda Hijackers and Operatives:  Iran and its proxy Hezbollah aided the Saudi 9/11 hijackers and operatives with travel assistance that was indispensable to the success of the 9/11 attacks.  Iran and Hezbollah provided the hijackers with “safe transit”; concealed the hijackers’ travel through Iran to training camps and helped the hijackers elude intelligence authorities; concealed Iranian operatives’ travel to 9/11 coordination meetings with bin Laden; and coordinated the hijacker’s travels.  Iranian/Hezbollah arch-terrorist Mughniyah escorted the hijackers on flights to Iran and Beirut.  Iran/Hezbollah coordinated the hijackers’ acquisition of passports and visas.  (Findings of fact #116-146, citing the 9/11 report and other sources; expert testimony #245, 266, 273-275)

4.  Iran’s Supreme Leader and IRGC-MOIS Task Force Devised The Plans To Attack America Using Civilian Airlines And Other Unconventional Methods:  Commencing in the mid-1980s, Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khoumeni initiated, and an Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps – Iranian MOIS task force devised plans for “unconventional” warfare against the U.S., aimed at crippling the American economy and social, military and political order without risking a head-to-head military confrontation with the U.S. which Iran would lose.  These plans were called Shaitan dar Atash (Satan in Flames or Satan in Hell; the Iranian name for the U.S. is “Satan”).  The IRGC-MOIS “Shaitan dar Atash” plans included: using radioactive “dirty” bombs and chemical weapons; bombing electrical power plants, oil tankers and railroads; and crashing hijacked Boeing airplanes into major American cities including the World Trade Center in New York, and the Pentagon and White House in Washington, D.C. including plans to crash passenger airlines into the World Trade Center.  Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda joined the Iranian operational planning in the early to mid-1990s.  (Findings of fact #151-155; expert testimony #249)   

A former Iranian spy, who helped create MOIS and worked on the IRGC-MOIS task force that devised the “Shaitan dar Atash” plans against the U.S. (findings of fact #147-152), but then needed to flee from Iran, received coded messages from Iran in July and August 2001 that the Iran’s “Shaitan dar Atash” plan for a major attack on America using civilian airlines had been activated.  (findings of fact #167-190)   

5.  Iran Obtained and Installed Flight Simulators to Train 9/11 Hijackers:  In 2000, Iran’s MOIS (task force for planning attacks on the U.S.) used front companies to obtain from China and transport to Iran Boeing 757-767-777 flight simulators.  Iran had never owned Boeing 757-767-77 aircraft, and had no legitimate need for such simulators.  Iran installed the simulators at a secure secret facility at Iran’s Doshan-Tappah air base near Tehran.  A key witness believes Iran used the flight simulators to train the 9/11 terrorists, at least one of whom stayed in Iran prior to 9/11.  The four airplanes hijacked on 9/11 were all Boeing 757 or 767 models.  (Findings of fact #191-197; expert testimony #251)

6.  Iran Provided Safe Havens to al Qaeda to Continue Terrorist Operations After 9/11:  When the U.S. invaded Afghanistan after 9/11, Iran facilitated the escape from Afghanistan to safe haven in Iran of hundreds of al Quaeda leaders and operatives and their families, including members of Osama bin Laden’s family and #2 al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri’s family, and Abu Massab Zarqawi, the high-level al Qaeda official who would soon lead al Qaeda in Iraq.  Iran’s Quds force commander Ahmad Vahadi and Imad Mughniyah and a friend of Osama bin Laden’s were instrumental in evacuating al Qaeda to Iran.  (findings of fact #198-205)   Al Qaeda operatives continued to meet, plan and direct terrorist operations from inside Iran.  (Findings of fact #206; expert testimony #268)

7.  Iran’s Supreme Leader Discussed Iran’s Support For the 9/11 Attack and Gave Instructions to Conceal Iran’s Involvement With al Qaeda:  An authenticated internal Iranian memorandum dated 5/14/01 demonstrated that Iran’s Supreme Leader was aware of the planned 9/11 attacks, referred to Iran’s support for the attacks, and connected Iran and Imad Mugniyah to al Qaeda and the planned 9/11 attacks.  The memorandum included the Supreme Leader’s instructions to Iranian intelligence operatives to limit communications in order to leave no traces regarding Iran’s cooperation with al Qaeda.  (finding of fact #206)

The “Iran deal” provides Iran with $150 billion in sanctions relief – plus hundreds of billions more in economic windfalls ($700 billion combined, according to left-of-center former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren) – which Iran will use to continue developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to carry nuclear warheads to the United States, and to finance Islamic terrorism around the world – including against the U.S.   The funds that Iran will receive can finance hundreds of thousands of 9/11 attacks!  

Our Senators and Congresspersons must think very carefully before giving such tremendous wherewithal to the same regime that initiated and facilitated the infamous attack that murdered 3,000 innocent Americans in our homeland.

And they should also bear in mind that Iran and its proxies are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. marines in Lebanon; U.S. soldiers at Khobar Towers, Saudi Arabia; approximately one-third of the thousands of U.S. casualties in Iraq (Iran supplied the training and the improvised explosive devices – IEDs – that killed one-third of our soldiers in Iraq); and for attempted terrorist attacks on U.S. soil on the Saudi and Israeli embassies and on the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. while present in a restaurant in Georgetown, in Washington, D.C., which would have resulted in the deaths of dozens of innocent American restaurant patrons.

For the safety of the American people, as well as our allies, we implore the following 38 Senators who are planning to vote for the disastrous Iran deal to change their votes:

Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)

Michael Bennet (D-CO)

Corey Booker (D-NJ)

Barbara Boxer (D-CA)

Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

Tom Carper (D-DE)

Bob Casey (D-PA)

Chris Coons (D-DE)

Joe Donnelly (D-IN)

Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

Al Franken (D-MN)

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

Martin Heinrich (D-NM)

Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)

Mazie Hirono (D-HI)

Tim Kaine (D-VA)

Angus King (I-ME)

Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

Ed Markey (D-MA)

Claire McCaskill (D-MO)

Jeff Merkley (D-OR)

Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)

Chris Murphy (D-CT)

Patty Murray (D-WA)

Bill Nelson (D-FL)

Jack Reed (D-RI)

Harry Reid (D-NV)

Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

Brian Schatz (D-HI)

Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)

Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

Jon Tester (D-MT)

Tom Udall (D-NM)

Mark Warner (D-VA)

Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)

Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)