Whether admitted to or not by the U.S. government, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been at war with the United States since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Without diplomatic relations, the two countries play a cat-and-mouse spy game, where the U.S. and Iran continue to intersect on-and-off the battlefield. When Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels started its war with Saudi Arabia March 26, 2015, Iran’s proxy war filtered into the United States. Considered the No. 1 Arab ally in the Middle East, the Trump administration took the Iranian proxy war against Saudi Arabia seriously. President Barack Obama, 59, spent eight years of his presidency funneling cash-and-arms to Syrian rebels, primarily Syrian Democratic Forces [formerly Free Syrian Army], founded by the late Sen. John McCain’s (R-Az.) friend Brig. Gen. Salim Idris. Eight years of proxy war displaced 14 million Syrians from their homes.
Iran’s Republican Guard Corps [IRGC] backed 55-year-old Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, considered an archenemy to Saudi Arabia and the U.S. Whether it’s battling Lebanon –based Hezbollah terrorists in Syria or Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Iran seeks to weaken U.S. influence in the Middle East and Persian Gulf. Today’s indictments of three Iranian member of IRGC for spying in U.S. aerospace companies should come as no surprise to anyone. Iran reverse-engineered a downed predator drone, copying U.S. technology to battle the U.S. in the Persian Gulf and North Africa. President Donald Trump’s recent breakthrough peace deals with the United Arab Emirates [UAE] and Bahrain with Israel relates directly to the Gulf Arab States seeing Iran as a menace to the region. Iran-backed Houthis bombed Saudi’s Abqaiq-Khurais oil refinery Sept. 14, 2019 with Cruise missiles and predator drones.
Arab Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia, know the danger presented by Iran. Iran’s Houthi-backed attack on Abqaiq-Khurais, knocked out 25% of the world refined oil products for nearly six months. Iran’s aggression doesn’t stop on the battlefield but actively involves cyber-warfare against the U.S. and its allies. It’s no accident that Arab Gulf State have joined a security alliance with Israel, the regions most sophisticated security apparatus in the Middle East. Today’s Justice Department indictments of Said Pourkarim Arabi, 34, Mohammed Reza Espargham, and 34-year-old Mohammad Bayati represent a win by the U.S. Justice Department but comes with no teeth. All three spies were accused of hacking U.S. aerospace secrets, just like Iran did when it reversed engineered a downed U.N. predator drone, giving Iran the technology to menace Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States.
Despite indicting members of Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps, the DOJ has no contact information, making law enforcement next to impossible. Arabi, Espargham and Bayati attempted to hack of 1,800 accounts in aerospace and satellite technology, no different than China, routinely cyber attacking U.S. companies, stealing copyrighted, trademarked and patented U.S. inventions. Like Russian troll farms or hacking operations, it’s difficult to find any responsible party for U.S. law enforcement. Many of the companies hacked by IRGC are in the U.S., U.K, Australia, Israel and Singapore, attesting to Iran’s attempt to acquire sensitive intel. U,S. Assist. Atty. Gen. John Demers said it’s the third time the same Iranians had been targeted by U.S. authorities. “Yet another effort by a rogue foreign nation to steal the fruits of this country’s hard work and expertise,” said Demers.
Symbolic indictments do little to stop Iran or other rogue states from hacking U.S. government or private sector computers, something done routinely, hoping to acquire anything useful. Attempts by DOJ officials to contact the hackers are largely fruitless, with emails bouncing back from closed accounts. When you consider the amount of organization ht by hackers, it’s a numbers game before something substantive turns up. Without finding and terminating cyber criminals, they go unpunished for stealing U.S. state and private secrets, something the DOJ can do little about. What’s known for sure is that Iran, China, Russia and others continue to hack into government and private sector Web sites, hoping to steal state secrets or proprietary information. It’s difficult to stop cyber criminals unless the U.S. can target their whereabouts, execute arrests and bring cyber criminals to justice.
U.S. intel officials are worried again that international cyber criminals will now turn their attention to the U.S. election. FBI’s 53-yuear-old Director Christopher Wray has put considerable FBI assets into play tracking down foreign cyber criminals for eventual arrest and prosecution. At the moment, cyber criminals get away with murder, eluding the reach of U.S. law enforcement. As long as the U.S. has no diplomatic relations with Iran, it’s going to be difficult to stop cyber crimes, especially copyright, trademark and copyright and patent infringements. If Iran can reverse engineer a predator drone and attack a Saudi oil refinery, they can certainly hack into Western computers, infringing on U.S. privacy, copyright, trademarks and patents. Indicting unknown Revolutionary Guards does little to stop Iran’s malign activities, prompting the White House to apply more punitive sanctions.
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