The Iran- al Qaeda Conundrum
By Michael Jacobson
My colleague Matt Levitt and I wrote a piece on the complicated and often opaque relationship between Iran and al Qaeda.
Here is an excerpt:
Last week, the Treasury Department issued terrorist designations for three senior al-Qaeda operatives who spent time in Iran, including Usama bin Laden's son, Saad. But the action, which targeted individuals unlikely to have assets in the United States or to move money in their own names, appears to be linked more to Iran than to al-Qaeda. During the designation announcement, Treasury undersecretary Stuart Levey noted, "It is important that Iran give a public accounting of how it is meeting its international obligations to constrain al-Qaeda." For the Obama administration, understanding the complicated relationship between Iran and al-Qaeda will be key as Washington begins to forge a new path in dealing with Tehran.
Iran's Ties to al-Qaeda Before September 11
Links between al-Qaeda and Iran are not new and have developed over time. Ties between the two first blossomed during the early 1990s when al-Qaeda was based in Sudan. Hasan al-Turabi, the leader of Sudan's National Islamic Front, encouraged relationships between Shiite and Sunni entities as part of his attempt to establish a unified global effort against the common enemy. As a result, Iran and al-Qaeda reached an informal agreement to cooperate, with Iran providing critical explosives, intelligence, and security training to bin Laden's organization.
Iran continued to provide assistance after al-Qaeda relocated to Afghanistan in 1996. Iranian officials were often willing to help facilitate al-Qaeda members' transit through Iran on their way to Afghanistan. Iranian border guards were instructed not to stamp their passports, presumably to prevent their home governments from suspecting that they had traveled to Afghanistan. Although the 9/11 Commission found no evidence that Iran was "aware of the planning for what later became the September 11 attacks," it concluded that "strong evidence" exists that Iran facilitated al-Qaeda travel -- including some of the September 11 hijackers -- to Afghanistan.
To read the full article, click here.