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Al-Qa‘ida has defied the international community by carrying out a global campaign of terrorism while rejecting the legitimacy of the world order of nation-states. Despite Al-Qa‘ida’s rejection of the state system, various states, including Iran but also Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, have been accused of enabling Al-Qa‘ida to advance their respective interests.

The story of Al-Qa‘ida’s links, if any, to Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan has largely been told either through the accusatory lens of those who believe that these states have conspired to enable Al-Qa‘ida or through the defensive lens of each of these states.

In recent months, Iran has come under particular scrutiny as a result of debates as to the merit of the Iran deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). When President Trump announced on May 8, 2018, that “the Iran deal must either be renegotiated or terminated,” he remarked that the “Iranian regime is the leading state sponsor of terror,” adding that Iran “supports terrorist proxies and militias such as … al Qaeda.”¹

This study canvasses nearly 300 declassified documents recovered in May 2011 by U.S. Special Forces during the raid on the compound of Al-Qa‘ida leader Usama bin Ladin (UBL) in Abbottabad, Pakistan. By focusing on Al-Qa‘ida’s voice—in the form of its own communications—this report avoids much of the challenge of politicization that occurs when discussion of Iran’s relationship to Al-Qa‘ida is based on commentary by Iran’s rivals.

This study canvasses nearly 300 declassified documents recovered during the raid on the compound of Al-Qa‘ida leader Usama bin Ladin.

This study consists of five sections. In addition to this introductory section, Section II provides key findings, Section III provides a description of the declassified documents and their value for research, Section IV is a detailed analysis of several declassified documents that include elaborate descriptions of the nature of Al-Qa‘ida’s relationship with Iran, and Section V consists of concluding remarks.