October 04, 2018

Saudi Embassy Video Claims Al-Qaeda Likes Iran But Proves The Opposite

The embassy of Saudi Arabia in the United States posted a video which claims that Iran "tacitly supported al-Qaeda".

However, the video, posted on October 3 at 19:44 UTC, provides only one thing. Al-Qaeda shunned contacts with Iran because al-Qaeda receives its support from Arab states.

The Saudi embassy video includes an interview segment with "Abu Hafs, the mufti of al-Qaeda". It has Arabic and English captions. In the Saudi video Abu Hafs says:

Iran has tried for several times to establish relations with Al-Qaeda

But Al-Qaeda was refusing because of the sensitivity of forging a relationship with Iran in the Arab Peninsula

which is the most important source of support to Al-Qaeda members

a fact that Osama was taking into account

And I have discussed this matter in my own memos

Here are screenshots of the interview segment:

A recent study by New America, based on more than 300 original al-Qaeda documents, again provided that there is no evidence for any cooperation between Iran and al-Qaeda. The top key findings are:

Al-Qa‘ida views Iran as a hostile entity , a hostility that is evident throughout the documents examined for this study.

, a hostility that is evident throughout the documents examined for this study. The examined documents provide no evidence of cooperation between Al-Qa‘ida and Iran on planning or carrying out terrorist attacks.

on planning or carrying out terrorist attacks. The presence of jihadis in Iran was out of necessity, not a result of strategic planning. Jihadis, including Al-Qa‘ida members, and their families as well as members of bin Ladin’s family fled Afghanistan to Iran following the 9/11 attacks and the resultant fall of the Taliban regime.

Al-Qaeda perceived the Iranian policy as "as one of detention/imprisonment". Its members and their families were in effect taken hostage by the Iranian government to prevent al-Qaeda attacks on its country.

The Saudi embassy video goes on to claim that neither al-Qaeda nor the Islamic State ever attacked Iran. But in fact the Islamic State (ISIS), attacked the Iranian parliament building and the mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini on June 7 2017. At least 17 civilians died and 43 were wounded. On September 22 2018 and ISIS attack killed 25 participants and bystanders of a memorial day parade in Ahvaz, Iran. ISIS claimed responsibility for both attacks.

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h/t Derek Davison

Posted by b on October 4, 2018 at 9:15 UTC | Permalink

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