Iran has become al-Qaeda’s ‘new home base’, Mike Pompeo alleges
- The US secretary of state says – without providing hard evidence – that the country has given safe haven to the group’s leaders
- Pompeo says al-Qaeda’s Abu Muhammad al-Masri, accused of helping mastermind bombings of US embassies in Africa, was killed in Iran last year
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday, without providing hard evidence, that al-Qaeda had established a new home base in Iran and the United States had fewer options in dealing with the group now it was “burrowed inside” that country.
With just eight days left in office for President Donald Trump, Pompeo alleged that Iran has given safe haven to al-Qaeda leaders and support for the group, despite some scepticism within theAbu Muhammad al-Masri intelligence community and Congress.
The New York Times reported in November that al-Qaeda’s Abu Muhammad al-Masri, accused of helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of two US 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.
Pompeo told a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington that he was announcing publicly for the first time that al-Masri died on August 7 last year.
Pompeo said his presence in Iran was no surprise, and added: “Al-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.”
On Twitter, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed Pompeo’s accusations as “warmongering lies”.