Zarif calls Pompeo’s ‘Iran, Qaeda link’ rant warmongering lies

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says his American counterpart is marking the twilight of his already “disastrous” career with a pathetic end by resorting to more baseless warmongering lies about Iran and other countries.

“From designating Cuba to fictitious Iran 'declassifications' and AQ (al-Qaeda) claims, Mr. 'we lie, cheat, steal' is pathetically ending his disastrous career with more warmongering lies,” Zarif wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

He was referring to a recent raft of actions by the outgoing US President Donald Trump administration’s most forward Iran hawk Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is just eight days away from handing over the State Department.

Most recently, Pompeo brought Cuba back to the US’s list of “Terrorism Sponsors.” The island was down the path of rapprochement with the administration of Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama. Trump’s inauguration, however, ushered in a swift decline in the countries’ ties, with Pompeo’s move making it even harder for incoming President Joe Biden to resume a détente.

Later, the US top diplomat identified Iran, without any evidence, as the terrorist al-Qaeda group’s “new home base.” He made the remarks as part of, what he called, publicizing “declassified US intelligence,” which — as in the case of Washington’s other claims against Tehran — surprisingly lacked all “declassified proof.”

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Zarif went on to say, “No one is fooled. All 9/11 terrorists came from @SecPompeo’s favorite ME destinations; NONE from Iran.”

Zarif was referring to Saudi Arabia and its widely-known financial and ideological sponsorship of the terrorist outfit that staged the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States.

Reporting Pompeo’s claims, the Reuters news agency said the US official had made the remarks while any link between the group and the Islamic Republic had been met with “skepticism” even within the US’s own intelligence community and Congress.

The agency called such remarks part of the outgoing US administration’s efforts to complicate Biden’s potential return to a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that Trump controversially quit in 2018.

This is not the first time Pompeo was trying to associate the terror group with Iran. Similar to the latest push, however, his previous such attempts lacked any evidence.

The now lame-duck secretary of state has been on the campaign, although all the US’s previous such accusations, including those made by former president George W. Bush’s administration —during which the 9/11 attacks took place — have been discredited.

Iranian officials have blasted the US’s groundless accusations as a means of its trying to obscure its own role in creation and continued existence of such groups.

Washington and many of its Western and regional allies have been identified as the main contributor to the emergence of such barbarous outfits.

Through either military or political intervention, the allies have been sowing such destruction and chaos across much of the region that has turned many regional countries into breeding grounds for terrorism.

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