US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday accused Iran of providing a “new home base” to al-Qaeda while imposing new sanctions on several senior Iranian officials.
“Unlike in Afghanistan, when al-Qaeda was hiding in the mountains, al-Qaeda today is operating under the hard shell of the Iranian regime’s protection,” Pompeo told the National Press Club, adding, “They’re partners in terrorism, partners in hate. This axis poses a grave threat to the security of nations and to the American homeland itself.”
Though he failed to provide any direct evidence to support his claims, Pompeo publicly confirmed for the first time that the extremist group’s second-in-command, Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was killed in Tehran in August. “Masri’s presence inside Iran points to the reason that we’re here today. Al-Qaeda has a new home base: it is the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said. “As a result, [Osama] Bin Laden’s wicked creation is poised to gain strength and capabilities,” Pompeo went on to say.
Pompeo’s remarks come just a week before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration and could throw a wrench in the incoming administration’s plans to lower the temperature between the US and Iran. Biden has expressed hopes to revive US-Iran ties by re-opening nuclear negotiations with Tehran under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was abandoned by President Donald Trump in 2018. Iran, for its part, has vowed to fully abide by its commitments to the deal if the US lifts sanctions on the country.
Pompeo, however, made the Trump administration’s position on the matter clear by denouncing the “appeasement” of the Islamic Republic as naïve. “Let’s not lie to the American people about Iranian moderation and pretend the appeasement will work,” he said. He further alleged that the country’s intelligence and security authorities were providing “safe havens and logistical support” to enable al-Qaeda activities, which had centralized the group’s leadership in Iran.
Multiple al-Qaeda militants and family members of Osama Bin Laden fled to Iran after the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001. Iran at the time said that the individuals had crossed the border illegally and that they were arrested and extradited to their home countries. Following reports of Masri’s death last year, Tehran had insisted that there were no al-Qaeda “terrorists” on its soil.
Following Pompeo’s comments, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, reiterated the country’s position and told state media that Iran has a “crystal-clear and defendable record” in fighting al-Qaida and IS terrorism. He also condemned Pompeo’s accusations as a “repeat of blaming and fabricating false evidence” against the country. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also decried Pompeo’s statements, and accused him of “warmongering lies”.
From designating Cuba to fictitious Iran "declassifications” and AQ claims, Mr. “we lie, cheat, steal" is pathetically ending his disastrous career with more warmongering lies.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 12, 2021
No one is fooled. All 9/11 terrorists came from @SecPompeo's favorite ME destinations; NONE from Iran.
Security experts have also cast doubt on Pompeo’s unsubstantiated allegations against Tehran. Trita Parsi, an Iran expert and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington DC, called the secretary’s comments “very unconvincing”.
“I think the question we have to ask ourselves is, if Pompeo actually has any conclusive evidence of any form of an Iran-al-Qaeda alliance, why did he wait until the eight last days of his term to put this forward?” he told Al Jazeera. “This is an administration that is doing everything it can to create conflict inside of the US, and now it’s doing everything it can to make sure that no diplomacy can take place between the US and Iran after it leaves,” Parsi added.
In its final days, the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on a near-daily basis, many targeted at Iran. Trump’s maximum pressure campaign and hardline rhetoric have been heavily criticized by the Iranian leadership, which has condemned the US for engaging in crimes against humanity by “blowing up” the country’s channels to pay for food and medicines and conspiring to starve a population in the middle of a raging pandemic. The extent of the US government’s (and more broadly, the GOP establishment’s) anti-Iran stance was made further evident on Monday, as Republican Senator Susan Collins wrote in an op-ed that she thought the mostly white, pro-Trump mob that stormed the US Capitol last week was “the Iranians.” Collins’ remarks came despite ample evidence that extremist groups were planning to come to DC and potentially engage in violence on January 6.