US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirms the assasssination Al-Qaeda’s No. 2 on August 7 in Tehran.
The New York Times reported in November that Israeli agents carried out the hit on Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah at the behest of the US. Abdullah, who used the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was accused of being one of the chief planners of devastating attacks on two US embassies in Africa in 1998 and a 2002 attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya.
Iran denied the report of the Israeli assassination. Pompeo did not say who was behind the targeted killing.
The New York Times, says Pompeo, said it was surprising Al-Masri was in Tehran, as Iran and Al-Qaeda are “bitter enemies.”
“It could not be more wrong. 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,” says Pompeo.
American efforts to stamp out al-Qaeda after 9/11 prompted the terror group to “search for a safer haven. And they found one.”
Iran “was the perfect choice,” he says.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks on ‘China challenge to US national security and academic freedom,’ in Atlanta, Georgia December 9, 2020. (Tami Chappell / AFP)
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