In its just released Country Reports on Terrorism 2017 report, which is produced annually to describe to global counterterrorism landscape, the U.S. Department of State highlighted numerous successes against terrorist groups while also noting new challenges. For example, the report found the number of deaths attributed to terrorism worldwide declined in 2017 and that the U.S. and its global partners had delivered major blows to the Islamic State, which lost 99% of its territory in Iraq and Syria in the past year. Meanwhile, the report also warned terror groups were beginning to become more "dispersed and clandestine" and have made themselves "less susceptible to conventional military action." In a theme reminiscent of today’s cyber threat landscape, the report noted that nation-states are sometimes behind the major threat actors. Speaking on this subject during a press conference for the report’s release, Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism Nathan A. Sales said, “Iran remains the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and is responsible for intensifying multiple conflicts and undermining U.S. interests…The threats posed by Iran’s support for terrorism are not confined to the Middle East; they are truly global.” U.S. Department of State.