Iran’s arms of terror

Aya Ezz

Iran can best be described as a “terrorism supporter” and a “companion of the terrorists”.

The Islamic Republic is always keen to establish strong contacts with terrorist organizations in order to use them in destabilizing Arab states and wreaking havoc on their security.

Tehran is al-Qaeda’s principal backer and ally since the time when Osama bin Laden still commanded the terrorist organization. Tehran is also the principal backer of Daesh which is commanded by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The leaders of almost all major countries, including the United States, agree on this.

One of the reasons why the US pulled out of the nuclear deal with Iran, US President Donald Trump said in May 2015, was the presence of relations between Iran and al-Qaeda.

Iran and al-Qaeda

A study prepared by New American site refers to the presence of strong cooperation between Tehran and al-Qaeda over the past years. The study is based on 300 classified documents that were obtained by the Central Intelligence Agency during a raid on one of bin Laden’s hideouts in Pakistan in 2011.

A judge of the American Federal Court held Iran responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The judge also ruled to fine Iran a staggering $10 billion in compensation for the families of the victims of the attacks.

Relations between Iran and al-Qaeda, the judge said, started soon after the terrorist organization was born. He added that Iran introduced logistical and field support to al-Qaeda.

A special inquiry into the attacks found out that Iran had allowed the members of al-Qaeda to cross into it from Pakistan without the requirement of obtaining a visa from the Iranian consulate in Karachi.

The report prepared by the inquiry showed that eight of the hijackers who rammed planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in September 2001 had passed by Iran before travelling to the US.

A document that was found at bin Laden’s home in Abbottabad in 2011 and released by Washington later revealed that the leaders of al-Qaeda had travelled to Iran to escape US troops after their occupation of Afghanistan.

One of the leaked documents was a letter the late leader of al-Qaeda sent to the members of his organization. The letter was hand-written by bin Laden himself.

“There is no need to antagonize Iran,” the letter read. “We share interests with it.”

Guests of Iran

The members of bin Laden’s family were among the most outstanding al-Qaeda figures who travelled to Iran. Tehran received 20 members of the al-Qaeda leader’s family. They included his brothers and his three sons Mohamed, Saad and Hamza.

Iran also received other al-Qaeda senior members, including Mafouz Ould Walid, codenamed Abu Hafs al-Muritani. Al-Muritani was al-Qaeda’s man in Iran. He worked as bin Laden’s advisor for religious affairs.

Iran and Daesh

The former Daesh spokesman Abu Mohamed al-Adnani mentioned in one of his audios the reason why his organization did not stage attacks against Iran.

Daesh abided by the advice of the sheikhs and symbols of jihad.

“This was why it did not attack Iran since Daesh was founded as an organization,” al-Adnani said in the audio.

He said Daesh also reined in its militants, even as they were able to turn Iran into a river of blood.

Al-Adnani noted that Daesh did not stage attacks against Iran, because it did not want to cause harm to al-Qaeda’s supply lines that came directly from Iran.

According to The Washington Post, Iran offered support to Daesh since its birth in 2014. This, the newspaper said, included logistical and financial support.

The Washington Post added that this support was delivered to Daesh through the Lebanese Hezbollah movement. It said Hezbollah allowed Daesh militants to cross into Syria and Iraq from Lebanon.