Iranian border guards stood watch in 2001 near Zahedan, an Iranian city where many al Qaeda fighters who had been based in Afghanistan had fled after the U.S. toppled the Taliban in Afghanistan
Militant group shared a pragmatic alliance that emerged out of shared hatred of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, a newly released document shows.
Wall Street Journal, November 2, 2017 - A newly released trove of documents the U.S. found in the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed provides new insights into al Qaeda’s relationship with Iran, suggesting a pragmatic alliance that emerged out of shared hatred of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
After the U.S. toppled the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001, members of al Qaeda, which was based there, scrambled to escape. Most of them crossed the border into Pakistan. But others moved to Iran, an al Qaeda official who appeared to be a senior member of the militant group wrote in a lengthy 2007 account in one of the documents.
Both sides were willing to overlook profound ideological and religious differences to combat common enemies. The terror group practices an extreme interpretation of Sunni Islam that considers Shiite Islam—Iran’s state religion—a rejection of the true faith.
“In my experience, the Iranian regime is the best example…of pragmatism in politics,” the al Qaeda official wrote in the document. “Anyone who wants to strike America, Iran is ready to support them and help them with money and arms and all that is required as long as they are not directly and clearly implicated.”
An official at Iran’s United Nations mission didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The release comes as President Donald Trump pursues a hard line on Iran, refusing last month to certify that Tehran was complying with a nuclear deal it reached in 2015 with six world powers including the U.S. The revelation of deeper ties between Iran and al Qaeda than many had believed could further embolden American proponents of tough new sanctions on Iran.
Many of the harshest international sanctions against the country were removed under the nuclear deal, in exchange for Iran’s agreement to scale back its disputed nuclear program. A U.N. monitoring body has repeatedly certified Iran’s compliance with the accord
