Intelligence officials have confirmed that Israeli operatives, at the behest of the United States, assassinated Abu Muhammad al-Masri, al Qaeda's second-highest leader, in Iran in August, The New York Times reports.
Al Qaeda has not announced al-Masri's death, and Iran, which considers al Qaeda a bitter enemy, denies the claims he was killed in Tehran, warning media outlets not to fall for the "Hollywood script." It's unclear why Iran would have been harboring al-Masri, but the Times reports some terrorism experts have suggested keeping al Qaeda leaders in the country would provide some insurance that the group would not conduct operations within its borders, while American counterterrorism officials have theorized Iran may have allowed them to stay to carry out operations against the U.S, a common adversary. Regardless, the Shiite Muslim nation has been "willing to overlook the Sunni-Shia divide" before "when it suits Iranian interests," Colin Clarke, a counterterrorism analyst at the Soufan Center, told the Times.
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