State Department Releases US Annual Report on Terrorism

Cuba, Iran and Sudan are considered state sponsors of terrorism, according to the US State Department's annual report.

The report for 2012 says the government in Cuba last year reduced support for Basque separatists in Southern Europe, joined a regional group that seeks to block terrorism financing, and sponsored peace talks between Colombia and an armed rebel group.

The report finds "no indication that the Cuban government provided weapons or paramilitary training to terrorist groups."

Countries listed by the State Department as state sponsors of terrorism face economic and political sanctions, including U.S. opposition to any aid from the International Monetary Fund and other major financial institutions.

The report says there was a sharp uptick in Iran's sponsorship of terrorism around the world, including attacks or attempted attacks in India, Thailand, Georgia and Kenya.

The State Department added three groups to the list: Jemmah Anshorut Tauhid of Indonesia, the Abdallah Azzam Brigades of Lebanon and the Arabian peninsula and the Haqqani network of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It removed one group from the list, the Mujahedin Khalq, or MEK, an Iranian opposition group based primarily in Iraq.

Read the report here: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/05/210103.htm

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