Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly met with Mossad head Yossi Cohen at Café Milano in Washington on Monday, according to a Politico report
On Tuesday, Pompeo revealed new information at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on the entrenchment of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Republic.
Pompeo began by confirming the assassination of Al-Qaeda’s No. 2 Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who went by the alias Abu Muhammad al-Masri, in Tehran on August 7, an attack attributed to Israel, although Pompeo did not mention who was behind the killing. Al-Masri was one of the main forces behind the devastating attacks on two US embassies in Africa in 1998 and an attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in 2003.
Pompeo said that The New York Times said that it was surprised that Al-Masri was in Tehran since Iran and Al-Qaeda are “bitter enemies.”
“It could not be more wrong,” Pompeo said. “It wasn’t surprising at all. And more importantly, they’re not enemies. Al-Masri’s presence inside Iran points to the reason we’re here today.”
“Al-Qaeda has a new home base. It is the Islamic Republic of Iran. As a result, Bin Laden’s wicked creation is poised to gain strength and capabilities. We ignore this Iran-Al-Qaeda nexus at our own peril.”
Pompeo elaborated that according to brand new information he has received, Iran allowed Al-Qaeda to set up new operational headquarters in 2015, as the Iran nuclear deal was being finalized. “Iran decided to allow al-Qaeda to establish a new operational headquarters, on the condition that al-Qaeda abides by the regime’s rules governing al-Qaeda’s stay inside of the country, agency and control.”
The outgoing secretary of state added that “Al-Qaeda has centralized its leadership in Iran” and that the Iranian ministry and the Revolutionary Guards provided Al-Qaeda members with travel documents and ID cards that enables al-Qaeda activity.
“Tehran has allowed al-Qaeda to fundraise, to freely communicate with al-Qaeda members around the world, and to perform many other functions. They are now partners in terrorism, partners in hate.”
“Iran is indeed the new Afghanistan,” he said, emphasizing that it’s actually worse since the US has less intelligence on the Islamic Republic and less options to combat its threats.
Pompeo added that the Iran-al-Qaeda partnership “threatens the progress of the Abraham Accords as well.”
“If al-Qaeda can use terror attacks in the region to blackmail nations from joining the warm peace with Israel, then we risk grinding generational momentum for peace in the Middle East to a halt.”
Finally, Pompeo warned that the alliance between Iran and al-Qaeda increased the risk of terror attacks around the world.
“This is a terror organization buried deep inside a nation-state with advanced capabilities. Imagine the threat to America, imagine the threat to Israel, Saudi Arabia. It is a massive force for evil all across the world.”
Pompeo called for global action to combat the new international dual threat.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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One Response
I’m pretty sure the guy on the right is dead, one of the many great accomplishments of the Trump administration. Trump’s Muslim predecessor would never do anything so helpful to America and the world.