Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday rejected as "warmongering lies" an assertion by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Iran has ties to the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaida.
"[With] fictitious Iran 'declassifications' and AQ [al-Qaida] claims, [Pompeo] is pathetically ending his disastrous career with more warmongering lies," Zarif tweeted.
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"No one is fooled. All 9/11 terrorists came from @SecPompeo's favorite ME destinations; NONE from Iran," Zarif said.
Pompeo said on Tuesday that al-Qaida had established a new home base in Iran and the United States had fewer options in dealing with the group now it was "burrowed inside" that country.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said: "Iran has been a victim of US state terrorism and affiliated groups for years and has had a clear ...record in the fight against al-Qaida and Islamic State," state media reported.
Iran's state religion is Shiite Islam, and the country views itself as a sworn enemy of Sunni Islamist militant groups such as Islamic State and al-Qaida. However, US officials have accused it in the past of providing shelter to some al-Qaida figures.
The New York Times reported in November that al-Qaida's Abu Muhammad al-Masri, accused of helping mastermind the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa, was gunned down by Israeli operatives in Iran. Iran denied the report, saying there were no al-Qaida "terrorists" on its soil.
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