Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday in his first major foreign policy address that Iran is still sheltering senior al-Qaeda operatives, and demanded that the country stop doing so as part of any detente with the U.S.
“Iran continues to be, during the JCPOA, the world’s largest sponsor of terror,” Pompeo said during a speech at the Heritage Foundation, using an abbreviation for the nuclear deal. “It continues to serve as sanctuary for al-Qaeda, as it has done since 9/11, and remains unwilling to bring to justice senior al-Qaeda members residing in Tehran.”
He added, “Today, we ask the Iranian people: Is this what you want your country to be known for? For being a co-conspirator with Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban, and al-Qaeda?”
In the wake of the president’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal, Pompeo said Iran will face unprecedented financial pressure that will let up only if it complies with a range of nuclear and non-nuclear requirements. Among them: “Iran too must end support for the Taliban and other terrorists in Afghanistan and the region, and cease harboring senior al Qaeda leaders.”
“Relief from our efforts will come only when we see tangible, demonstrated, and sustained shifts in Tehran’s policies,” he said.
Pompeo’s remarks Monday represent an about-face from Obama-era efforts to downplay the relationship between the Islamic Republic and al-Qaeda. The Obama White House had pushed back on the extent of Iran–al-Qaeda cooperation, with one administration official telling THE WEEKLY STANDARD in July 2016, “Anyone who thinks Iran was or is in bed with al Qaeda doesn’t know much about either.”
Pompeo, then a Kansas congressman, was among those to criticize the administration over such remarks.
“We cannot be lulled into a false sense of security,” he told TWS that same month. “The Iranian government’s direct work with, and harboring of, senior members of al-Qaeda must elicit a greater response.”
Though the Obama White House downplayed those strategic connections, its Treasury and State Departments long acknowledged the existence of al-Qaeda’s Iran-based network. Also that same month, the Treasury Department sanctioned three senior al-Qaeda members operating inside Iran.
As noted previously by TWS, the Obama-era designations from 2011 onward highlighted the connections between Iran and the global terror group:
The trove of files collected in the 2011 raid of Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound, more of which were released in November, further shed light on and confirmed that relationship.
