Iran tops US list of rogue nations

IRAN remained the most-active state sponsor of terrorism in 2002, the United States said yesterday as it made no changes to its list of rogue nations, holding it at seven.

Iran, as well as Cuba, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria, were all renamed to the State Department’s annual blacklist, inclusion on which brings with it a variety of US sanctions, including bans on arms sales and economic measures.

The department’s yearly “Patterns of Global Terrorism” report noted marginal progress and statements made by some of the “state sponsors” but said they had not done enough to deserve being removed from the list.