Reuters quoted sources that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to use newly declassified U.S. intelligence today to publicly accuse Iran of ties to al Qaeda, as part of last-minute offensive against Tehran before handing over his post.
Two people familiar with the matter said that Pompeo is expected to offer details on allegations that Iran has given safe haven to al Qaeda leaders and support for the group, despite some skepticism within the intelligence community and Congress.
Pompeo is expected to cite, in his speech to the National Press Club in Washington on Tuesday, declassified information on the killing of al Qaeda’s suspected second-in-command in Tehran in August.
Earlier in November, the New York Times reported that Abu Muhammad al-Masri, accused of helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa, was gunned down by Israeli operatives in Iran. Iran denied the report, saying there were no al Qaeda “terrorists” on its soil.
Iran has been a target throughout the Donald Trump administration and Pompeo has sought to further place intense pressure on Iran in recent weeks with more sanctions and offensive rhetoric.
Advisers to President-elect Joe Biden believe the Trump administration is trying to make it harder for him to re-engage with Iran and seek to rejoin an international deal on Iran’s nuclear program.
Pompeo has accused Iran of links to al Qaeda in the past but has not provided concrete evidence.
“There have been times the Iranians have worked alongside al Qaeda,” then CIA director Pompeo said in October 2017.
Earlier accusations by the George W. Bush administration of Iranian links to al Qaeda’s Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States have been discredited. But reports have surfaced over the years of al Qaeda operatives hiding out in Iran.
A former senior U.S. intelligence official with direct knowledge of the issue said the Iranians were never friendly with al Qaeda before or after the Sept. 11 attacks and any claims of current cooperation should be viewed warily.
