(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - On Thursday, the US Treasury Department accused Iran of assisting al-Qaeda in fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by facilitating the transfer of “funding and foreign fighters through Turkey to support al-Qaeda-affiliated elements inside Syria.”
Iran, a strategic ally of the Syrian government, denied the allegations and warned that such reckless remarks could even harm the recent diplomatic efforts which experts hope would ultimately bring an end to the West’s decade-long dispute with Iran over its nuclear energy program.
“Aside from being a laughable accusation, I think it is instructive because it shows the bankruptcy of US policy vis-à-vis both Syria as well as Iran. This is not the first time that we’ve heard such an accusation of Iran somehow being in league with al-Qaeda. Of course, we should remember back in 2007, the Bush administration, through Vice President Cheney at the time, made a very similar accusation at the time against the backdrop of an attempt to create a war with Iran,” said Eric Draitser, founder of StopImperialism.com, in a phone interview with us on Monday.
“As we look at the relationship between the United States and Iran, it’s become very clear that the United States has recognized Iran no longer just as a military and strategic threat but also as a diplomatic threat,” he said.
The US efforts to label Iran a supporter of al-Qaeda, which is a concept in America “for evil, for everything that the United States must oppose,” are just “part of a vast evil conspiracy,” said Draitser.
He also pointed to the Syria Conference held in Geneva last month, arguing that Washington forced UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to withdraw his invitation to Tehran to attend the conference simply “because it is Iran that has the rational policy vis-à-vis Syria, it is Iran that has backed and supported Assad and was looking for a political settlement since the very beginning of the conflict. And a political settlement at this point is something that is very preferable to many around the world.”
/106