Report: Iran, al Qaeda in Secret Talks

ABC News reports that senior U.S. officials are stating that in recent months there have been secret contacts between the Iranian government and the leadership of al Qaeda. It’s a development that has caught the attention of top officials in the White House, the Pentagon and the intelligence community.

There are several theories floating about as to why Iran would engage al Qaeda. Most of the theories point to Iran using several high-level operatives loosely detained in Iran, as pawns or bargaining chips. Those al Qaeda operatives include two of bin Ladens sons.

According to U.S. officials familiar with highly sensitive intelligence, the contacts are on the status of the al Qaeda operatives who have been under house arrest in Iran since 2003. The officials don’t believe Iran will allow these operatives to go free, but said they don’t know Iran’s motivation for initiating the talks.

“The Iranians know there would be hell to pay if these guys were set free,” a U.S. official told ABC News.

“Iran likely sees these individuals, as major bargaining chips,” says another official. “How and when they’re going to use those chips or whether they are going to keep them in the bank is part of an ongoing strategic discussion they are having internally.”

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The fate of these al Qaeda operatives has been one of the most intriguing mysteries in the war on terror. Shortly after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, al Qaeda’s central leadership broke into two groups. U.S. intelligence believes that one group, headed by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri, fled to the east to find safe haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas. The second group, headed by an Egyptian named Saif al Adel, went west to Iran. This second group, which intelligence analysts say includes al Qaeda’s management council, or “shura,” includes about two dozen militants, including Adel, al Qaeda spokesman Suliman abu Ghaith and some of bin Laden’s relatives, including two of his sons, Saad and

Although U.S. officials rarely talk publicly about them, these militants are considered to be among the most dangerous terrorists in the world.

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So, why would Iran now be reaching out to al Qaeda? U.S. intelligence analysts have several theories. Under one theory, the talks are a reaction to al Qaeda’s recent anti-Iranian rhetoric. The Iranians are using the al Qaeda detainees as, the theory goes, leverage “hostages” in the words of one official to get al Qaeda to cut its recent anti-Iranian rhetoric and to deter any potential al Qaeda operations against Iran. By detaining them, Iran makes an unspoken threat to al Qaeda’s leadership: If al Qaeda attempts to attack Iran, these people will suffer.

Others believe Iran may have initiated the talks as a threat to the United States, that if the U.S. takes hostile action against Iran, these captives could be released, set free to plot attacks against the West.

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