Following recent targeted strikes against Al Qaeda terror leaders inside Iran, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday said that the Al Qaeda terror group responsible for the 9/11 attacks has set up a “home base” in Iran — and both are now “partners in terrorism.” Pompeo also confirmed that last year Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, whose nom de guerre was Abu Muhammad al-Masri, described as Al Qaeda’s number-two leader, had been killed in Tehran.
Al-Masri was the accused mastermind of the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa that killed more than 200 people. Israel reportedly ambushed and killed him in August in coordination with U.S. intelligence.
According to The Washington Post, a senior U.S. official said the United States located al-Masri, and Israel coordinated the operation with the CIA.
“You now have the … largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the home base for Al Qaeda,” Pompeo said according to Fox News. “They are partners in terrorism, partners in hate.”
Pompeo continued saying, “Al Qaeda today is operating underneath the hard shell of the Iranian regime’s protection. America has far less visibility on Al Qaeda’s capabilities and activities now than we did on their activities when they were in Tora Bora or even the mountainous regions of Pakistan.”
Pompeo further explained, according to Fox, that Al Qaeda’s previous base was in Afghanistan, where it plotted the 9/11 attacks before being ousted after the U.S. invasion in 2001. Pompeo said the relationship between the two terror mongers had been in place since the 1990s but had seen a “sea change” in 2015 with the signing of the Obama-Biden Iran nuclear deal.
Fox reported Pompeo stated:
Iran decided to allow Al Qaeda to establish a new operational headquarters, on the condition that Al Qaeda operatives inside abide by the regime’s rules governing Al Qaeda’s stay inside the country.
Fox added that he alleged that terrorist operatives have been given “logistical support in the form of passports and travel documents, have been allowed to fundraise and communicate, and that they have been able to put a new emphasis on plotting attacks.”
When The New York Times reported this news, their headline read: ‘Pompeo Says Iran Is New Base for Al Qaeda, but Offers Little Proof.’ The NYT added that “Pompeo’s statements were tempered by some U.S. officials, who said there was little new intelligence to suggest that Iran was an active headquarters for the terrorist group.”
These ‘disclaimers’ and downplaying of, or dismissing, anything said by Trump administration officials is the latest disinformation tactic employed by the establishment media.
Perhaps the Times’ reporters and editors should read The Washington Post though, which reported in November that “many of al-Qaeda’s senior commanders have been sheltered in Iran, though one by one, they have been killed in recent years.”
The only remaining member of Al Qaeda’s core leadership — “with operational al-Qaeda terrorist experience” is Saif al-Adel, who is believed still to be in Iran, according to The Post.
The Post added:
While it might seem strange that Iran would harbor senior al-Qaeda leaders, Iran in the past had aided Sunni militant groups such as Hamas and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and Osama bin Laden once contemplated Iran and al-Qaeda teaming up against the West, counterterrorism expert Ali Soufan wrote in an article for the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.
Based on this information, Pompeo seems to be right on the money regarding the new Iran-Al Qaeda ‘axis of terror.’ President-elect Joe Biden’s obsession with re-engaging and appeasing Iran can only embolden the regime to deepen these terror ties.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AmericanActionNews.com.
