Iran-al Qaeda Alliance May Provide Legal Rationale for U.S. Military Strikes

Nelly Lahoud was cited by the Washington Times in an article about the Trump administration's worry for Iran-al Qaeda relations.

Nelly Lahoud, a former terrorism analyst at the U.S. Military Academy and now a New America Foundation fellow, was one of the first to review documents seized from bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan. She wrote in an analysis for the Atlantic Council this fall that the bin Laden files revealed a deep strain of skepticism and hostility toward the Iranian regime, mixed with a recognition by al Qaeda leaders of the need to avoid a complete break with Tehran.

In none of the documents, which date from 2004 to just days before bin Laden’s death, “did I find references pointing to collaboration between al Qaeda and Iran to carry out terrorism,” she concluded, although the interplay between the two was clearly complex and conflicted.

One captured 2007 document, apparently written by an al Qaeda operative, concluded that, in the wake of the 2003 U.S. invasion of neighboring Iraq, “Iranian authorities decided to keep our brothers as a bargaining chip.”