Al-Qaida’s No. 2 Blasts Iran

Just before the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, al-Qaida has released a lengthy videotape featuring the group’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, providing updates about how the holy war is faring around the globe and laying into Iran for “cooperating with the Americans” and with the American-approved governments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

AP via Google News:

Short excerpts of the message were aired on the Arab satellite news channel Al-Jazeera.

In them, al-Qaida Number 2, Ayman al-Zawahri accused Iran of working with U.S. forces.

Al-Zawahri said Tehran was “cooperating with the Americans in occupying Iraq and Afghanistan” and slammed Iran for recognizing the two governments. He also criticized the Shiites for not calling for a jihad in Iraq against the “Crusader occupier.” In militant postings, “crusaders” is shorthand for U.S. troops in Iraq.

“The guardian of Muslims in Tehran is cooperating with the Americans in occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and recognizes the two hireling governments there,” al-Zawahri said.

Zawahri has been increasingly singling out Iran and Shiites in his messages, most recently in April, describing the “Persians” as the enemy of Arabs and complicit in the occupation of Iraq.

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