Al-Qaeda increasingly working out of Iran – FT

Iran Focus: London, Jul. 07 – Al-Qaeda operatives are increasingly using Iran as a base to carry out “terrorist operations” in Iraq and elsewhere, Britain’s Financial Times reported on Saturday. Iran Focus

London, Jul. 07 – Al-Qaeda operatives are increasingly using Iran as a base to carry out “terrorist operations” in Iraq and elsewhere, Britain’s Financial Times reported on Saturday.

One official described to the FT the al-Qaeda operation in Iran as a “money and communications hub”.

The group’s operatives, who link the al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan with their disciples in Iraq, the Levant, and North Africa, move with relative freedom in the country, the report said.

The officials told the FT that the creation of some kind of al-Qaeda hub in Iran appeared to be separate from the group of seven senior al-Qaeda figures, including Saad bin Laden, believed to have been in Iran since 2002.

A senior US official said the information had produced different assessments. “The most conservative, cautious intelligence assessment is that [the Iranian authorities”> are turning a blind eye. But there are a lot of doubts about that”, he said.

“They are benefiting from the mayhem that AQ is carrying out. They don’t have to deal with al-Qaeda to benefit”, he added.