Dubai On a cold March morning last year, Iranian diplomat, Heshmatollah Attarzadeh, was flown home nearly 15 months after being kidnapped by gunmen in an ambush on the Pakistani side of the Khyber Pass.
Iran hailed the release as a victory for its intelligence agents, who they claimed staged a rescue mission into tribal areas along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Western officials saw it differently: A turning point in Iran’s dealings with al-Qaeda.
Negotiations to free the captive diplomat are believed to have reached high-level al-Qaeda figures, Western officials said. In return for its help, al-Qaeda demanded better conditions for dozens of people close to Osama bin Laden who have been held under tight security in Iran, including some of the terror chief’s children, the network’s most senior military strategist, Saif al-Adel and other leaders.
The apparent result has been greater freedom of movement for al-Adel, who has grown in importance after Osama was killed in May.
Since the release of the captive Iranian diplomat, al-Adel has been given more freedom to travel to Pakistan, making at least one trip in the past year, and allowed to open more contacts with other al-Qaeda leaders, said Western intelligence officials.
That could mark a significant shift in the long hazy relationship between Iran and al-Qaeda. Since 2001, Iran has appeared a somewhat reluctant host for senior al-Qaeda operatives who fled there after the US invasion of Afghanistan. Now, the situation appears to have changed.
Al-Adel has chosen to remain in Iran with his family, said officials. This suggests that al-Adel now considers Iran a viable outpost with added security that a US raid or drone strike on Iranian soil is unlikely. The easing of Iran’s restrictions on al-Qaeda opens up speculation that al-Adel could establish a “satellite office’’ there. AP
