Iranians Training Qaeda Terrorists to Attack Our GIs

Iran's Revolutionary Guards are training hundreds of Al Qaeda fighters to carry out attacks against coalition forces throughout the Middle East.

The Iranian government has been providing a safe haven for fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror group since they were forced to flee Afghanistan in late 2001.

But Western intelligence agencies now report that the Iranians are training Al Qaeda fighters at centers that were previously used by other Islamic militant groups, such as the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.

The decision to allow Al Qaeda fighters to train in Iran was made by President Ahmadinejad as part of his policy of attempting to forge closer links with Mr. bin Laden's organization.

The training of Al Qaeda operatives is part of a wider Iranian ambition: to take control of the Al Qaeda terror network by encouraging it to promote officials known to be friendly to Tehran.

Al Qaeda fighters stay at guest houses on the outskirts of Tehran used by the Revolutionary Guards for conducting training in sophisticated terror techniques. Some of the training is carried out by the guards' elite Quds (Jerusalem) force, their main paramilitary unit. Apart from standard training in firearms and combat drill, the fighters all learn how to prepare car bombs.

Many of those trained in Iran then travel to countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, where they use their new skills to carry out attacks on coalition troops.

Last week, British military commanders based in Basra said Iran was sustaining the insurgency against British and American forces by supplying terrorist groups with weapons and cash.

"From the evidence we have seen, Iran's links to Al Qaeda go far deeper than simply supplying them with equipment," a senior Western intelligence official said. "They are allowing them the use of training facilities so that they can ensure their attacks are as effective as possible."

According to recent reports received by Western intelligence agencies, the Iranians are training senior Al Qaeda operatives in Tehran to take over the organization when Mr. bin Laden is no longer leader.

Rumors have been circulating about the state of his health for several months. Mr. bin Laden, 49, who is known to suffer from kidney problems that require regular dialysis, has not appeared in one of his videotapes for more than two years, prompting speculation that he is dead.

A leaked report from the French intelligence service, the DGSE, in September suggested Mr. bin Laden, who has a $25 million price on his head, had died of typhoid earlier this year.

Even if he is still alive, intelligence officials are working on the assumption that his ability to control the organization has been severely diminished, and that most of the day-to-day running is being undertaken by Mr. bin Laden's Egyptian-born no. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Iran has always maintained close relations with Al Qaeda, even though the Shiite state is known to have many ideological and strategic differences with the terror group's Sunni leadership.

Western intelligence officials now believe that Iran is trying to cultivate a new generation of Al Qaeda leaders who will be prepared to work closely with Tehran when they eventually take control.

Recent intelligence reports from Iran suggest the Iranians are particularly keen to promote Saif-al-Adel, a notorious Al Qaeda operative who is wanted in America for his alleged role in training several of the September 11, 2001, hijackers.

Mr. Adel, 46, a former colonel in Egypt's special forces who joined Al Qaeda after fighting with the mujahedeen against Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s, was named in the FBI's list of 22 most wanted terrorists that was issued after the September 11 attacks.

He is also alleged to have been involved in the deaths of 18 American soldiers in Somalia in 1993 and the truck bomb attacks on the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

Mr. Adel has, technically, been living under house arrest in Tehran since fleeing to Iran in late 2001 with hundreds of other Al Qaeda fighters following the American-led coalition's invasion of Afghanistan.

For the past five years, he has been living in a Revolutionary Guards guest house in Tehran together with two of the Al Qaeda leader's sons, Saad and Mohammed bin Laden.

Until 2003, Mr. Adel acted as Mr. bin Laden's security chief, and since his arrival in Iran, he is understood to have struck up a close personal relationship with several prominent Revolutionary Guards commanders.

The Iranians are now exerting pressure on Al Qaeda's leadership to make Mr. Adel the organization's no. 3, which, given Mr. bin Laden's poor state of health, would effectively make him no. 2. This would put him in a strong position to take control of the entire Al Qaeda network in the event of Mr. Zawahiri being killed or being unable to continue running the group.

"This is an important power play by the Iranians, and the prospect of Al Qaeda and Iran forging a close alliance is truly terrifying," a senior Western intelligence official said. "They have had their differences in the past, but with the survival of both Iran and Al Qaeda now at stake, they realize it is in both their interests to have closer ties."

Iran's attempts to forge closer links with Al Qaeda are understood to have been ordered by Mr. Ahmedinejad, who believes Iran and Al Qaeda share similar aims — destroying the influence of America and its allies in the wider Middle East. Mr. Ahmedinejad is also keen to strengthen the alliance in case Iran is subjected to U.N. sanctions over its refusal to halt its nuclear enrichment program, which many Western governments believe is being undertaken as part of a clandestine nuclear weapons program.

If Al Qaeda is agreeable to appointing Mr. Adel and other Al Qaeda figures currently based in Iran to senior positions, the Iranians have agreed to provide training facilities and equipment.

Links between Iran and Al Qaeda date back to the early 1990s, when Mr. bin Laden was based in Sudan. According to America's 9/11 Commission report, Iran's Revolutionary Guards helped to train Al Qaeda fighters, and the Iranians were suspected of helping Al Qaeda to carry out the truck bomb attacks against an American military base in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia in June 1996 that killed 19 American servicemen.

The growing links are being viewed with profound alarm in Western intelligence circles. Iran has a long history of sponsoring terror groups. The Revolutionary Guards were primarily responsible for setting up, financing, training, and equipping Hezbollah, the radical Lebanese militia that now stands accused of plotting to overthrow the Lebanese government and seize power.

Any increase in Iran's influence over Al Qaeda could have potentially devastating consequences for international security. Al Qaeda has made no secret of its desire to acquire weapons of mass destruction — including "dirty" nuclear bombs.

Intelligence specialists believe that Iran will soon have the capacity to develop its own nuclear weapons and Tehran is also known to have developed a highly effective chemical weapons program.

"We are looking at a Doomsday scenario here where Al Qaeda finally fulfils its ultimate goal of acquiring weapons of mass destruction," a senior Western intelligence official said. "And unlike other terror groups, Al Qaeda is perfectly willing to use them."