Iran rejects US claim it provides sanctuary to al-Qaeda

By Zehra Nur Duz

ANKARA (AA) - Iran's foreign minister on Tuesday rejected an allegation by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Iran is now al-Qaeda's "home base."

"From designating Cuba to fictitious Iran 'declassifications' and AQ claims, Mr. 'we lie, cheat, steal' is pathetically ending his disastrous career with more warmongering lies," Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter.

"No one is fooled. All 9/11 terrorists came from @SecPompeo's favorite ME destinations; NONE from Iran." He was referring to the Middle East.

Pompeo admitted to an audience from Texas A&M University on April 15, 2019 that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) especially trains employees to "lie, cheat and steal."

"I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. We had entire training courses," Pompeo said.

Pompeo accused Tuesday Iran's leadership of providing "sanctuary to the terror group's senior leaders as they plan attacks against America and our allies."

"The Iran-al-Qa'ida axis poses a grave threat to the security of nations and to the American homeland itself, and we are taking action," he said in a statement. "Today, we are drawing attention to the nature of the Iran-al-Qa'ida relationship and are taking the actions necessary to crush al-Qa'ida and its links to Iran. We urge all nations to do the same – for the good of our nations, and of the free world."

The top diplomat is an Iran hawk and has been pivotal to the Trump administration's campaign to ramp up diplomatic and economic pressure on the Islamic Republic. He provided no evidence to back his allegations during the news conference.