TEHRAN, 10 May 2008 — Al-Qaeda’s No. 2 leader snubbed US Republican Sen. John McCain for claiming that Iran is working with the terrorist organization, Iran’s FARS news agency reported recently.
During an online Q&A session, Ayman Al-Zawahiri said Al-Qaeda wants to see the destruction of Iran. Zawahiri made the statement on an Al-Qaeda-sanctioned jihadist website.
“We hope that war ‘saps’ both Washington and Tehran,” he said according to the FARS report. “The dispute between America and Iran is a genuine struggle, and the possibility of the US striking Iran is real,” Zawahiri said.
“Whichever country that emerges victorious will find itself in an intensified and fierce battle (with Al-Qaeda),” he continued.
Zawahiri was referring to a recent blunder by the presumptive Republican nominee, McCain, who has claimed that Iranian operatives are “taking Al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back” to Iraq.
