Alliance Between Iran, Al-Qaeda Drawing Increasing Scrutiny

(New York, N.Y.) – In a recent interview, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke about Iran’s covert relations with Al-Qaeda, asserting Tehran has “enormous control” over the global terrorist network. Speaking with Voice of America, Pompeo discussed how Iran "provide(s) support and enable(s) Al-Qaeda leaders to conduct their global operations campaign” in exchange for a conditional understanding that it not “conduct operations against Iranian assets or inside of Iran.”

Nearly 20 years after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. in which nearly 3,000 Americans lost their lives, Al-Qaeda remains dedicated to striking America. Addressing the secretive alliance between the Iranian regime and Al-Qaeda extremists remains an urgent priority, particularly given the Iranian regime’s track record of using terror organizations as proxy military forces.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)’s resource, Al-Qaeda And Iran: Alliance Against The US, provides an overview of the Iranian regime’s cooperation with Al-Qaeda. Iran and Al-Qaeda may seem like unlikely bedfellows given the Shia-Sunni divide, but theological disputes have not precluded cooperation in certain conditions, especially as the pair regard the U.S. as its primary adversary. This “Alliance Against America” between the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism and the most infamous international terrorist group poses a formidable and menacing threat to American interests.

Iran has collaborated with Al-Qaeda covertly and often through its proxies due to the latter's notorious reputation. This covert cooperation began in the early 1990s in Sudan, continued after Al-Qaeda relocated to Afghanistan, and even manifested itself on Iranian soil before, during, and after the September 11 attacks. Although such cooperation has been known by authorities, for the first time in July 2011, the U.S. formally accused Iran of forging an alliance with Al-Qaeda that includes harboring Al-Qaeda operatives on Iranian territory and helping Al-Qaeda transit money, weapons, and fighters.

To read UANI’s resource, Al-Qaeda and Iran: Alliance Against the US, please click here.
 

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