The terrorist group Hezb'allah, based in Lebanon, is establishing "resistance cells" worldwide under the direction of Iran, according to Mohammad Hussein Babai, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the province of Golestan.

The cells are already infiltrating the United States with the help of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and drug cartels.

The Iranian Student News Agency, which is close to the Guards, reported last week that Babai, during a press conference, revealed that these jihadist cells began forming after the 2006 Lebanon war between Israel and Hezb'allah, and with the current Islamic Awakening, they have expanded their operations.

Their mission, Babai said, is to help create an Islam-dominated world.

This is the first time that a high-ranking Revolutionary Guard commander in the Islamic regime of Iran has revealed the presence of such jihadist cells in the world.

"Today we are a witness to our power and authority in the world," Babai said, "and because of our Islamic Revolution [of 1979], now there is an Islamic Awakening that, with the leadership of the dear supreme leader, Ayatollah [Ali] Khamenei, will become stronger and more resilient."  The West refers to the Islamic Awakening as the Arab Spring.

Hassan Rahimpour Azghadi, who is a member of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution and an important theorist of the Islamic regime in Iran, said in a televised speech last Friday that "today we must get ready for a global operation, and our forces should expand their operation throughout the world."

"Our fighters are present in all five continents of the world and will fight against imperialism everywhere," Azghadi added.  "We must not fear anyone, and an international jihad must take place to prepare for the Coming."  The "Coming" refers to Imam Mahdi, the Shiites' 12^th Imam, who, according to a Shiite hadith, will reappear and reap destruction on Israel and the West.

Azghadi said it is the duty of Iran, "the center of the religious fighters worldwide," to export revolution.  "As our Imam [the founder of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini] declared, we must destroy Israel and free Jerusalem.  We must take our fight into the heart of Europe, America, Africa, Asia ... and just as we helped with the Islamic movement in Lebanon and Gaza, soon there will be an Islamic Republic in Egypt."

He then reiterated that Iran must prepare itself for a global conflict.

The radicals ruling Iran, ever since the Islamic Revolution, have invested heavily to expand their field of operations in Europe and America.  I witnessed their activities when, as a member of the Revolutionary Guards, I was also a CIA spy.  Every Iranian embassy, Islamic cultural centers, mosques, offices of Iran Air, Iranian shipping lines, Iranian banks, and many front companies dealing with Iran are being used by the Iranian Quds Forces and intelligence agency for recruitment, transfer of arms and cash, and terrorist activities.

They have successfully placed many cells in Europe and, through ties with the Hugo Chávez government in Venezuela, have placed hundreds of Quds Force members along with Hezb'allah terrorists in front companies in Venezuela.  Iran has set up an explosives lab in Venezuela for its cells with the knowledge of the Chávez government.  In return, the Iranian regime has given hundreds of millions of dollars to Chávez.

These cells, through collaboration with drug cartels, have infiltrated Latin America and have even set up shop in Mexico, from where, in a coordinated effort, they are infiltrating the United States.

The radicals ruling Iran have become increasingly vocal in recent weeks that, because of the current upheaval in the Islamic world and the weakness and confusion of the leaders in America and Europe due to the global economy, the time is ripe to bring the West to its knees.

It is with this view that those radicals, despite four sets of U.N. sanctions, are pursuing ever so aggressively their nuclear bomb project.

Perhaps the jihadists in Iran are emboldened because they are close to having a nuclear bomb.  Perhaps they have already armed their cells with dirty bombs.  The last report by the International Atomic Energy Agency stated that Iran now has enough enriched uranium for six nuclear bombs.  It certainly has the material and the knowledge, and now we must realize that it has the will to do what is unimaginable by the Western world: an all-out attack to create a new world order in which Islam will rule the world.

The hadith presaging the return of the 12^th Imam says, "This is the time when the last Islamic Messiah will return to rid the world from Infidels and establish a worldwide Islamic caliphate: Chaos, famine, and havoc will engulf the Earth.  Major wars with dark clouds [atomic wars] will burn the Earth.  One-third of the Earth's population will be killed, and the rest will suffer hunger and lawlessness."

Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for an ex-CIA spy who requires anonymity for safety reasons.  He is a senior fellow with EMPact America and the author of A Time to Betray, a book about his double-life as a CIA agent in Iran's Revolutionary Guards, published by Threshold Editions, Simon & Schuster, April 2010.  A Time to Betray was the winner of the 2010 National Best Book Award and the 2011 International Best Book Award.