A truck filled with high-tech explosives was stopped last week at a checkpoint on Iraq’s border with Iran. The fact that shipments of weapons are being smuggled into Iraq from Iran sparked concern at the Pentagon—but is it enough concern?

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld reacted to the news soberly: “It’s a problem for the Iraqi government,” he said. “It’s a problem for the coalition forces. It’s a problem for the international community. And ultimately it’s a problem for Iran” (BBC News, August 9).

Though the Iranian government quickly denied being involved, U.S. officials believe the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps are responsible for the weapons smuggling. Of course, the leading mullahs fully support the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which was created by decree from the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.

While acknowledging that it is unclear who exactly acquired and transported the weapons cache into Iraq, Rumsfeld said, “What you do know of certain knowledge is the Iranians did not stop it from coming in” (CNN, August 10). He specifically referred to Iran’s failure to stop weapons smuggling as being “unhelpful.”

There are several points of interest in this revelation.

First, it should come as no surprise to regular readers of the Trumpet that Iran has been stoking the Iraqi insurgency.

At first, it may appear contrary to conventional wisdom. The insurgency is primarily fueled by Sunni Muslims; Iran is Shiite. And Iran, after all, is achieving all its ambitions as it supervises and facilitates the installation of an Iran-friendly, Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad, where its worst enemy once resided. Whether or not Iraq ends up being “the Islamic Republic of Iraq,” clearly it will be a willing ally to Tehran. Why, then, would Iran supply weapons to the Sunnis? Analysts at Stratfor have said they are skeptical the news is true, for these very reasons.

But consider what is happening on the ground in Iraq.

Insurgents are making life very difficult for the American-led coalition forces. Their objective is not to win on the battlefield—in that realm they are clearly outmatched. All they have to do is outlast their opponents; they seek merely to make the costs of America’s presence in Iraq outweigh the benefits, and thus expedite America’s inevitable retreat (clearly the U.S. won’t remain in Iraq forever; the insurgents just want to speed up the timetable). In this objective, it appears they are beginning to succeed: Grappling with a rising death count and no let-up in violence in the streets, the U.S. is now speaking seriously of pulling out a significant number of its troops sometime next year.

Does Iran benefit from this development? Absolutely.

Tehran wants nothing more than an expanded influence within Iraq. This is perhaps the most important immediate stepping-stone to the mullahs’ goal of regional supremacy. America’s presence in Iraq is an obvious hindrance to achieving that objective. Certainly a U.S. pullout would open Iraq to greater influence by Iran.

Thus, there is a perverse logic in supplying arms to the Sunni insurgency, even though it is making life harder on the fledgling Shiite Iraqi government. The important function of the insurgency, as far as Iran in concerned, is that it turns the screws on the U.S., forcing Washington to think seriously of shrinking its presence in Iraq. So is it possible, even probable, that the news is true? We at the Trumpet believe it is.

But perhaps even more interesting than the fact that Iran could very well be arming Iraq-based terrorists is the sheer mildness of Washington’s response.

Iran holds enormous influence in Iraq and therefore plays a critical role in the U.S.’s plan to stabilize the nation. Without secure borders, coalition forces will never be able to stem the insurgency and bring security to Iraq. If America is to secure stability within Iraq, it must face Iran.

“Unhelpful”? Evidence of Iran directly supplying terrorists with arms—even armor-piercing shaped charges specifically designed and constructed to target American soldiers—is just the latest in a mountain of proof that Iran is the greatest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. This is not merely “unhelpful.” Acts of war are not “unhelpful.”

“Unhelpful” is feeble language employed by a “superpower” that frankly has no credible intention of forcefully dealing with the brazen threat emerging from Iran.

We must not fail to see the inherent weakness in U.S. policy concerning the Islamic Republic.

Iran continues to boldly show its support for terrorist operations. It openly trains, funds and equips terrorists. Most worryingly, it continues to edge closer to obtaining nuclear weapons, and America and the West continue to overlook its roguish behavior.

How can the U.S. ever win the war against terrorism when it fails to effectively deal with the biggest state sponsor of terrorism?

The Trumpet has repeatedly forecast that the problem will be addressed, but not by the U.S. Our booklet The King of the South explains this biblically based truth, which the world will be able to witness within a few short years.