Iran’s FM Calls UN Assessment On Al-Qaeda Leader "Laughable"

Iran’s foreign minister has dismissed a UN report saying that the new de facto leader of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group is based in Iran as "laughable."

In a report last week, the UN concluded that Saif al-Adel, a former Egyptian special forces officer, had taken over leadership of Al-Qaeda following the of former leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in an airstrike in Kabul last summer.

The United States said that its assessment aligns with the report, which the UN said was based on member state intelligence.

“When it comes to his presence there, offering safe haven to Al-Qaeda is just another example of Iran’s wide-ranging support for terrorism, its destabilizing activities in the Middle East and beyond,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters on February 15.

The next day, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian called the "laughable" allegations as being part of a "failed game of Iranophobia."

This is not the first time that the Islamic Republic has been accused of sheltering senior Al-Qaeda members.

Over the past years, Iranian court have sentenced low-ranked members of the terrorist group to up to 10 years in prison. Tehran has also handed over some Al-Qaeda members to the United States and other countries.