Iran increased its state support for terrorism last year, while the core of al-Qaeda continued to lose strength, the US said in an annual assessment of the terrorist situation around the world, dpa reported.
The State Department report pointed to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, its Intelligence Ministry and its support for the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.
"Iran's state sponsorship of terrorism and Hezbollah's terrorist activity have reached a tempo unseen since the 1990s, with attacks plotted in South-East Asia, Europe and Africa," the report said, noting Iranian involvement in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad's regime and an attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria and several failed plots.
The terrorist network al-Qaeda, which had long been the chief focus of the US war on terrorism, continued to weaken with the killing of leaders such as Abu Yahya al-Libi and Abu Zaid al-Kuwaiti. Instead, local affiliates of the group have taken on more independent roles and are increasingly focussing on local targets, the report said.
"Though the (al-Qaeda) core is on a path to defeat, and its two most dangerous affiliates have suffered serious setbacks, tumultuous events in the Middle East and North Africa have complicated the counterterrorism picture," the US report said.
It cited to the spread of weapons in Libya and the Tuareg rebellion in Mali, but said efforts by French and African forces had helped to contain the threat there.