Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA)
One day in May 2023, an F-16 fighter jet flew into Syria and dropped bombs on a factory in Deraa and a home in the Sweida province in southern Syria, killing a couple and their six children. The bombs were dropped by a Royal Jordanian Air Force jet, and the targeted man was Merhi al-Ramthan, who was considered the region’s leading smuggler of weapons and the Captagon drug in the Middle East.1 Ramthan’s massive production of the addictive Captagan, in particular, and the wholesale smuggling of the drugs to Jordan and beyond put Ramthan on Jordan’s most wanted list, but there is much more to the story.
In the cacophony of news about Gaza, Israel, Hizbullah, Iran, Houthis, and the Red Sea, the Ramthan-Captagan story is barely background music. But the story involves Syrian President Assad, the Assad clan, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, arms smuggling, Iranian proxy militias, including Hamas, and billions of dollars. Al-Ramthan’s destroyed factory was a warehouse for smuggled weapons transiting through a network controlled by the Assad regime, Iran, and Hizbullah, according to intelligence sources in the West.2 Ramthan recruited hundreds of Bedouin smugglers who joined the ranks of Iran-linked militias in southern Syria, according to regional intelligence reports.3
Jordan has been fighting a war with drug smugglers from Syria for several years. A marked uptick has been reported in 2024, “with dozens of infiltrators from Syria linked to pro-Iranian militias, carrying large hauls who crossed its border with weapons and explosives.”4 The Jordanian Air Force conducted four more raids against smugglers in early 2024.
Among the groups operating the smuggling network are Iran’s expeditionary Quds Force, Hizbullah, Iranian proxy militias, Kata’ib Hizbullah, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, elements in the Assad regime, including his brother Gen. Maher Assad, commander of the Syrian Fourth Division, and Syrian intelligence units. The profitable drug trafficking helps finance them all. In Israel’s war plans against Hizbullah, the weapons/drug network’s “stations” and warehouses in Lebanon and Syria are probably high-valued targets.
Dozens of infiltrators and smugglers linked to pro-Iran militias were intercepted by Jordan in January 2024. Smugglers earn thousands of dollars for their missions, and some now use drones to move their haul.
“The vast majority of Captagon is produced by local Syrian factions linked to the Assad regime and Hizbullah,” the U.S. State Department reported in 2023.5 “From there, large quantities of these captagon pills are shipped from Syrian ports such as Latakia or smuggled across the Jordanian and Iraqi borders by drug traffickers who are backed by armed groups and local tribal networks.”
“This is just a continuation of drugs fueling terror,” Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Captagon is supporting terrorism financially, providing the money to expand the reach of terrorists and also fueling the terrorists themselves to go out and commit brutal atrocities like we witnessed in Israel [on October 7, 2023].”6
Where’s the Proof of Iranian Involvement?
Captagon is Syria’s largest export, providing as much as $10 billion a year. In an exhaustive report on Syria’s Captagon economy, the Washington Post’s Jobi Warrick and Souad Mekhennet found that “there is no evidence of direct involvement in drug trafficking by Tehran, but Iranian officials have provided weapons, money, and intelligence to the groups.” They wrote that “most recent bands of smugglers are linked to Iranian-backed Syrian militias, including some of the same groups that have fired rockets at U.S. forces based in eastern Syria.”7
But Jordanian officials are not ready to provide Iran with “Get Out of Jail Free Passes.” Former Jordanian Minister of Information Samih al-Maaytah insisted that what is happening on the northern border “has gone beyond smuggling, to the point of targeting Jordan’s security and military…. Jordan knows the country that stands behind this. It’s Iran that is sponsoring these militias.” Maaytah continued, “These are hostile military actions against Jordan on its territory. Smuggling networks have intensified their activities recently to drain the border guards and weaken the northern flank to form a local militia targeting the security services from inside Jordanian territory.”8
Jordanian military expert Maj. Gen. (ret) Hashem Khreisat attributed the smuggling groups’ insistence on repeatedly entering Jordan to their being part of a project “led by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to plunge the region into chaos through drugs and weapons,” according to the publication Syria Direct.9
Bassam Al-Amoush probably knows more about Iran than any other Jordanian. He served as Jordan’s ambassador to Iran. “Jordan has tried to infiltrate Jordan in different ways, said Al-Amoush, “whether by forming armed organizations within it, by promoting Shi’ite tourism to Jordan, by becoming involved in economic projects there, or by using its militias to smuggle arms and drugs into the kingdom.”
Al Amoush continued, “The Iranians tried to gain a foothold [in Jordan], sometimes in the guise of [religious] tourism [to Shi’ite sites in the kingdom] and sometimes in the guise of taking part in the Disi Water Conveyance [Project]. Today, they have shifted to trying to infiltrate Jordan forcefully by smuggling weapons and drugs [into the country] from Syria, and their clashes with our army are almost unceasing. They also exploited the Al-Aqsa Flood [war, i.e., the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza] and demanded to enter [Jordan] through Iraq to come to Gaza’s rescue.”10
Iran and Hamas
The Ayatollahs in Tehran are Hamas’s biggest supporters with funds, weapons, and hospitality. Recently captured documents released by Israel’s intelligence agencies show extensive correspondence between Hamas’s leader Yahya Sinwar and Iranian and Hizbullah leaders. Sinwar was requesting funds, weaponry, and coordinated attacks when Hamas stormed Israel.11
One of the most important reinforcements that Iran, Syria, or Hizbullah provided Hamas was the Hamas fighters’ “little white courage” pills they received before their onslaught on Jews on October 7, 2023. “Hamas terrorists who carried out the October 7 massacre were found to be under the influence of Captagon, a synthetic amphetamine-type stimulant… The pills were recovered from the pockets of many terrorists who lost their lives on Israeli soil.”12
Iran’s Own Domestic Drug Lord – Naji Sharifi-Zindashti
Naji Sharifi Zindashti is the classic definition of a thug, kingpin, mobster, drug lord, killer, and Iranian intelligence agent. After sitting in prisons in Iran, Turkey, and Greece on major drug trafficking charges, Sharifi Zindashti returned to Iran where he serves as the Ministry of Intelligence’s “long arm.” He has been accused of kidnapping and killing enemies of the regime around the world. Iranian opponents have been kidnapped in places like Turkey, smuggled into Iran, and executed. Sharifi-Zindashti’s gangs traffic more than 20 percent of drugs distributed across Iran and about 35 percent of the drugs pushed in the capital Tehran. Interestingly, he is honored in Iran for his philanthropy.
There is little literature about Captagon use in Iran. The poison he provides is opium and heroin, available from Afghanistan.
The Jerusalem Center for Foreign and Security Affairs published a detailed account of Naji Sharifi Zindashti’s activity on behalf of Iran’s regime.13
Iran and Western Hemisphere Drugs
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro signed a 20-year cooperation agreement in Tehran in June 2022. He told his Iranian counterparts that Venezuela was part of the resistance axis and that it “exists throughout the world; it exists in Africa, in Asia, in the Middle East, in Latin America, and in the Caribbean.”
Maduro continued: “Imperialism and Zionism are conspiring against the progressive, revolutionary processes taking place in Latin America and the Caribbean, especially the Bolivarian Revolution…. Mossad’s conspiracies are due to our strong position of solidarity with the Palestinian people and our support of them for their regaining their historical rights and for the Palestinian Resistance. Our support of them is strong and unique, and we will continue supporting them in this manner.” The Venezuelan president also revealed his connections with Al-Qods commander, Gen. Qassim Soleimani.14
Iran has provided Venezuela with Iranian-made Peykaap fastboats, armed with anti-ship missiles, and UAVs. Both vehicles can be used for drug smuggling and infiltration around the Caribbean Sea.
A recent analysis by Rand Corporation, entitled, “It’s Time to Designate Venezuela as a State Sponsor of Terrorism,” warned, “considering recent revanchist claims of Guyanese territory by Venezuelan lawmakers, these Iranian weapon systems present a legitimate threat to maritime security in the Caribbean region.” The author, Benjamin R. Young, cautioned about the Iran-Hizbullah-Venezuela triad: “Largely driven by narcotics trafficking, Hizbullah operatives can largely move to and from Venezuela discretely and many have roots in Venezuela’s sizable Lebanese community. Embedded within Maduro’s security apparatus and intelligence network, Hizbullah-linked agents and operatives launder money for the Iranian-backed terrorist organization and its sponsors in Tehran.
Iran’s Mediterranean Ports – in Tartus and Latakia in Syria
Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, the engineering arm of the IRGC, is the biggest contracting firm in the Middle East. It was awarded a 30–40 year concession from the Syrian government on September 2, 2019, to “establish, run, and operate a new multi-purpose commercial port” with a waterfront of 2.5 kilometers.15
According to L’Orient Today, a second contract was signed in 2019 to transfer the management of Latakia port, Syria’s most important port situated on the Mediterranean, to the Iranians.16 The contract provides Iran with access to a harbor with 23 warehouses. In July 2024, Israeli planes attacked Latakia soon after two Iranian ships docked, apparently after Israel suspected the ships off-loaded weapons.17
Iranian Drug Trade Heading East
In February 2024, the Indian press revealed that the “Indian Navy and cops teamed up to seize 3,300kg drugs from an Iranian boat off Gujarat coast.”18 The haul consisted of methamphetamine, hashish, and heroin. The ship’s crew was made up of Iranian and Pakistani sailors. The ship sailed from the Iranian port of Chabahar.19
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