{"id":224837,"date":"2021-01-13T08:27:08","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T08:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=224837"},"modified":"2021-01-15T08:23:47","modified_gmt":"2021-01-15T08:23:47","slug":"pompeo-says-al-qaedas-new-home-base-is-iran-with-no-evidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=224837","title":{"rendered":"Pompeo says al-Qaeda\u2019s \u2018new home base\u2019 is Iran, with no evidence"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Al Jazeera \u2013 Jan 12, 2021<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday al-Qaeda has a new home base in Iran, though he offered no evidence in a speech in Washington, DC, a claim Iran immediately rebuffed.<\/p>\n<p>Pompeo said al-Qaeda had centralised its leadership inside Tehran and that deputies of leader Ayman al-Zawahiri are currently there.<\/p>\n<p>He added that ties between Tehran and al-Qaeda began to vastly improve in 2015, when the Obama administration, along with France, Germany and Britain, were finalising the nuclear deal Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a landmark accord signed that saw Iran limit its nuclear enrichment in exchange for a lifting of international sanctions.<\/p>\n<p>Shia-ruled Iran and predominantly Sunni al-Qaeda have long been considered foes in the region, and while there has been reporting of al-Qaeda operatives using Iranian territory, claims of heightened coordination have previously been met with scepticism within the intelligence community and Congress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAl-Qaeda has a new home base. It is the Islamic Republic of Iran,\u201d Pompeo said in a speech at the National Press Club.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Today, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecPompeo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SecPompeo<\/a> delivered remarks <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PressClubDC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PressClubDC<\/a>. [Full Remarks 1\/2] <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cdXgc6HWgV\">pic.twitter.com\/cdXgc6HWgV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Department of State (@StateDept) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StateDept\/status\/1349034451821621248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 12, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would say Iran is indeed the new Afghanistan \u2013 as the key geographic hub for al-Qaeda \u2013 but it\u2019s actually worse,\u201d he said. \u201cUnlike in Afghanistan, when al-Qaeda was hiding in the mountains, al-Qaeda today is operating under the hard shell of the Iranian regime\u2019s protection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The secretary of state, who will leave office on January 20 when President Donald Trump\u2019s term ends, also urged more international pressure on Tehran, but stopped short of calling for military action, saying: \u201cIf we did have that option, if we chose to do that, there\u2019s a much greater risk in executing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2018Warmongering lies\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif swiftly accused Pompeo of \u201cwarmongering lies\u201d in a tweet denouncing the claims.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">From designating Cuba to fictitious Iran &quot;declassifications\u201d and AQ claims, Mr. \u201cwe lie, cheat, steal&quot; is pathetically ending his disastrous career with more warmongering lies.<\/p>\n<p>No one is fooled. All 9\/11 terrorists came from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecPompeo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SecPompeo<\/a>&#39;s favorite ME destinations; NONE from Iran.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Javad Zarif (@JZarif) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JZarif\/status\/1349018857067991046?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 12, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/1\/12\/pompeo-says-al-qaedas-new-home-base-is-iran\">Continues \u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iran quickly denounced Pompeo\u2019s claims as \u2018warmongering lies\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Iran"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=224837"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224838,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224837\/revisions\/224838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=224837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=224837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=224837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}