The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has claimed, without providing evidence, that al-Qaida leaders have established a new “home base” in the Iran, in what appeared to be his latest effort to raise the political cost of the next administration reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
Speaking with just eight days left in office, Pompeo alleged that Iran was “the new Afghanistan”, telling a news conference in Washington: “Unlike in Afghanistan, when al-Qaida was hiding in the mountains, al-Qaida today is operating under the hard shell of the Iranian regime’s protection.” » | Julian Borger in Washington | Tuesday, January 12, 2021
This assertion appears to be manifestly absurd! Al-Qaeda is a Sunni terrorist group. Iran is Shia. Sunnis and Shiites hate each other with a vengeance. This alone makes Pompeo’s assertion highly unlikely to be true. Pompeo is playing to people’s ignorance. He, in his position, should know better than this. The man needs to go back to school! – ©Mark Alexander
