Iran Dismisses U.S. Falsehood About Al-Qaeda Terrorist
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran on Saturday denied a New York Times report that Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command was killed in Iran in August by Israeli operatives at the behest of the United States.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that there were no Al-Qaeda "terrorists” on Iranian soil.
"From time to time, Washington and Tel Aviv try to tie Iran to such groups by lying and leaking false information to the media in order to avoid responsibility for the criminal activities of this group and other terrorist groups in the region,” the ministry said.
Citing unnamed intelligence officials, The New York Times claimed on Friday that Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, the Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command who went by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, had been gunned down by two armed assassins on a motorcycle in the streets of Tehran in August.
The paper said al-Masri, who was charged with helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa, had been killed in Iran by Israeli operatives acting at the behest of the United States.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Saturday that the Times’ report was based on "false information,” vehemently rejecting the presence of any of the terrorist group’s members in the country.
The official underlined that the Al-Qaeda has been the brainchild of the United States and its allies’ wrong policies.
Advising the American media not to fall into the trap of what he referred to as Hollywood scenarios of American and the Zionist regime’s officials, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said such accusations are undoubtedly made in the context of an all-out economic, intelligence and psychological warfare against the Iranian people, and that the media should not be a platform for spreading agenda-driven White House lies against Tehran.
"Although the United States has in the past spared no effort to level false accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran, this approach has become a routine in the current US administration and the White House has tried to take further steps to implement its scare-mongering tactic against Iran by repeating such accusations,” Khatibzadeh noted.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that there were no Al-Qaeda "terrorists” on Iranian soil.
"From time to time, Washington and Tel Aviv try to tie Iran to such groups by lying and leaking false information to the media in order to avoid responsibility for the criminal activities of this group and other terrorist groups in the region,” the ministry said.
Citing unnamed intelligence officials, The New York Times claimed on Friday that Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, the Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command who went by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, had been gunned down by two armed assassins on a motorcycle in the streets of Tehran in August.
The paper said al-Masri, who was charged with helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa, had been killed in Iran by Israeli operatives acting at the behest of the United States.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Saturday that the Times’ report was based on "false information,” vehemently rejecting the presence of any of the terrorist group’s members in the country.
The official underlined that the Al-Qaeda has been the brainchild of the United States and its allies’ wrong policies.
Advising the American media not to fall into the trap of what he referred to as Hollywood scenarios of American and the Zionist regime’s officials, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said such accusations are undoubtedly made in the context of an all-out economic, intelligence and psychological warfare against the Iranian people, and that the media should not be a platform for spreading agenda-driven White House lies against Tehran.
"Although the United States has in the past spared no effort to level false accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran, this approach has become a routine in the current US administration and the White House has tried to take further steps to implement its scare-mongering tactic against Iran by repeating such accusations,” Khatibzadeh noted.