The U.S. State Department is set to host a high-level conference on political terrorism on Thursday focused on what the Trump administration describes as the resurgence of transnational far-left violence, with Islamist terrorism, including Iran and its proxy network, not on the formal agenda.
In a statement released Wednesday, the department said “far-left political terrorism is resurgent,” citing violent attacks across the Western Hemisphere, Europe and Asia targeting private citizens, government officials, law enforcement, businesses and critical infrastructure.
“These are not isolated incidents,” the department stated. “They reflect a deliberate, ideologically motivated strategy to destabilize free societies.”
The department called the threat “a blind spot in the international community’s counterterrorism focus,” saying it has been underestimated and under-resourced despite its growing danger.
The statement pointed to the U.S. designation of Antifa Ost, the Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front, Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, as well as a 14-country workshop held earlier this year to share best practices for countering transnational far-left terrorism.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will deliver opening remarks at the gathering, which the department stated will bring together representatives from roughly 70 countries. Scott Bessent, U.S. treasury secretary, and Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, are also scheduled to speak.
The conference will focus on expanding intelligence cooperation, disrupting terrorist financing, protecting critical infrastructure and strengthening international law enforcement coordination.
Rubio “will highlight the importance of deepening cooperation with international partners to better map violent activity, disrupt terrorist financing, protect critical infrastructure, and promote collective action against a threat that respects no borders,” according to the State Department.
A department official told JNS that the Trump administration is consistently focused on Islamic terrorism, given the volume of sanctions and terrorist designations against Iran and its regional proxies, along with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Asked why the administration has not devoted a comparable international initiative to right-wing extremism, including neo-Nazi groups, the official said the administration is not minimizing that threat but is seeking to draw greater attention to what it views as the underappreciated danger posed by transnational far-left terrorism.
