Mike Pompeo claims Iran is new ‘home base’ of Al-Qaida

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated Tuesday that al-Qaida had established a brand new residence base in Iran. He claimed the militant group had “burrowed inside” the nation, making it more durable for the US to focus on its members.
Pompeo’s claims come on the again of a New York Times report {that a} prime al-Qaida chief, Abu Muhammad al-Masri, had been killed in Iran by Israeli operatives in August 2020. Iran subsequently denied the report.
“Al-Masri’s presence inside Iran points to the reason that we’re here today … al-Qaida has a new home base, the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Pompeo informed a information convention on the National Press Club in Washington as an official affirmation of the report, albeit with out offering exhausting proof.

“Iran is indeed the new Afghanistan … as the key geographic hub for al-Qaida,” Pompeo stated. “Unlike in Afghanistan, when al-Qaida was hiding in the mountains, al-Qaida today is operating under the hard shell of the Iranian regime’s protection,” he added.
“Tehran gives sanctuary to the terror group’s senior leaders .. and has allowed al-Qaida to fund-raise, to freely communicate with other members around the world and perform many other functions that were previously directed from Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

Iran denies al-Qaida hyperlink Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded to Pompeo’s remarks on Twitter, calling them “fictitious declassifications” and “warmongering lies.”
As a clerical state based mostly on Shiite Islam, Iran is taken into account ideologically against extremist teams like al-Qaida, which adhere to the Sunni department of Islam and have historically been supported by Iran’s arch-enemy Saudi Arabia.
A former head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Pompeo has beforehand stated that al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden “considered al-Qaida members inside Iran to be hostages.”
Pompeo seeks to trigger havoc in final days Trita Parsi, govt vice chairman of the Quincy Institute suppose tank, spoke to DW about Pompeo’s accusation, calling it “hardly convincing.”
The Trump regime has been “pursuing maximum pressure against Iran” since Trump took energy — he questioned why they might haven’t come ahead earlier if such proof did exist.
Parsi additionally identified that by claiming Iran is the brand new residence base of al-Qaida, Pompeo has arrange a “casus belli that would allow the administration to go and attack Iran in its last couple of days in power.”

Legislation from 2002 permits the federal government to take army motion in opposition to al-Qaida with out congressional approval.
Parsi believes, nevertheless, that the true intention behind Pompeo’s transfer is “to make it impossible for the Biden administration to pursue diplomacy … and to undo the mess that Trump and Pompeo have caused.”
He stated that this was according to the designation of the Houthis in Yemen as a terrorist group on Monday.

A brand new al-Qaida-Iran axis?
Pompeo’s arguments of Iranian assist for al-Qaida marks one of many first occasions Washington has clearly accused Tehran of supporting a Sunni extremist group. Iran is a recognized supporter of Shiite militant teams, corresponding to Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
However, Pompeo has stated the connection between Iran and al-Qaida has improved because the 2015 nuclear settlement brokered by the Obama administration.
US intelligence consultants have stated Iranian territory supplies a comparatively protected haven from the US army, and al-Qaida’s presence there is available in alternate for ensures that the extremists won’t goal Iranian pursuits.

“Iran decided to allow al-Qaida to establish a new operational headquarters, on the condition that al-Qaida operatives inside abide by the regime’s rules governing al-Qaida’s stay inside the country,” Pompeo stated.