United Nations intelligence report shows Iran is harboring al Qaeda’s new leader Saif al-Adel

The United Nations says it has gathered intelligence which shows Iran is harboring the newest leader of al Qaeda, Saif al-Adel. Al Qaeda has not officially announced al-Adel as its new leader, but the United Nations member states have overwhelmingly agreed he is now the “uncontested leader” of the terrorist organization.

The U.N. Security Council’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team published the report saying al-Adel is running operations from inside Iran. “Member States’ predominant view is that [al-Adel] is now the de facto leader of al Qaeda, representing continuity for now,” according to the report. “But his leadership cannot be declared because of … the fact of [al-Adel’s] presence in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

The Washington Free Beacon writes al-Adel’s ascension within Al Qaeda has not formally been announced primarily due to his presence in Iran, “which has historically been at odds with the terror group due to religious differences.“

Despite religious divisions between Iran’s hardline clerical regime and al Qaeda, “there is a growing desire among both entities to team up on the terrorism front. Al-Adel has deep ties to the Iranian regime and took refuge inside the country in the early 2000s, along with several other top al Qaeda members” reports the Beacon.

Iran’s decision to harbor al-Adel where he is believed to have orchestrated al Qaeda’s terror operations including strikes on Americans, violates a U.N. Security Council resolution which bans countries from providing safe haven to any members of al Qaeda.

The United State Department has a $10 million bounty on al-Adel as part of its Rewards for Justice program. As quickly as the report came out, Iran immediately denied al-Adel is in the country.

Iran utilizes the false narrative that al Qaeda was “dismantled after the death of Osama Bin Laden,” according to a statement published by the country’s permanent mission to the U.N. “Linking Al-Qaeda to Iran is patently absurd and baseless,” Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian tweeted last Thursday.