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ORSecretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged Tuesday that arch-enemy Iran has become a new “base of operations” for al-Qaeda worse than Afghanistan, a claim disputed by experts.
In a speech a week before leaving office, Pompeo confirmed a New York Times report that Al Qaeda’s second-in-command was assassinated last year in Tehran, though he did not say that Israel carried it out.
“Al-Qaeda has a new base of operations. It is the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Pompeo said in a speech at the National Press Club. “I would say that Iran is indeed the new Afghanistan, as the key geographic center for al-Qaeda, but it is actually worse.”
“Unlike Afghanistan, when al-Qaeda was hiding in the mountains, al-Qaeda today operates under the hard shell of the protection of the Iranian regime.”
“Tehran has allowed al-Qaeda to raise funds, communicate freely with other al-Qaeda members around the world, and perform many other functions that were previously directed from Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
Pompeo urged more international pressure and called the alleged alliance a “massive force for evil throughout the world.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed the accusations, tweeting: “No one is fooled. All the 9/11 terrorists came” from Pompeo’s “favorite” Middle East “destinations,” he added. “NONE from Iran.”
Most of the perpetrators of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York came from Saudi Arabia, an ally of the United States.
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