TEHRAN, Iran: Iran has accused the CIA of spreading “fake news” about the Islamic republic with newly declassified files seized in the 2011 raid in Pakistan in which Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed.
The CIA on Wednesday released 470,000 additional files found in May 2011 when US Navy SEALs burst into Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad and shot him dead.
According to scholars from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), who were allowed to see the trove before it was made public, the files shed new light on the murky relationship between the Sunni extremist group and Shiite Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed the allegations.
“A record low for the reach of petrodollars: CIA & FDD fake news w/selective AlQaeda docs re: Iran can’t whitewash role of US allies in 9/11,” he wrote on Twitter late on Thursday.
The release of the files comes as US President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to ramp up pressure on Iran, refusing to certify a landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
Iran denies any link to Al-Qaeda and has provided financial and military backing to help the Syrian regime fight Sunni extremists and other opponents.
The Fars news agency, which is close to Iranian conservatives, said Thursday that the selective publication of documents by the CIA related to Al-Qaeda was part of efforts “to put pressure on Iran.”
Iran denounces CIA ‘fake news’ in Bin Laden files
Iran denounces CIA ‘fake news’ in Bin Laden files
The art of war: fears for masterpieces on loan to Louvre Abu Dhabi
- UAE paid more than €1 billion to borrow priceless works, but experts in France want them back
PARIS: The Middle East war has raised fears for the safety of priceless masterpieces on loan from France to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the museum’s only foreign branch.
The Abu Dhabi museum, which opened in 2017, has so far escaped damage from nearly 1,800 Iranian drone and missile strikes launched since the conflict erupted on Feb. 28.
However, concerns are mounting in France. “The works must be removed,” said Didier Selles, who helped broker the original agreement between France and the UAE.
French journal La Tribune de l’Art echoed that alarm. “The Louvre’s works in Abu Dhabi must be secured!” it said.
France’s culture ministry said French authorities were “in close and regular contact with the authorities of the UAE to ensure the protection of the works loaned by France.”
Under the agreement with the UAE, France agreed to provide expertise, lend works of art and organize exhibitions, in return for €1 billion, including €400 million for licensing the use of the Louvre name. The deal was extended in 2021 to 2047 for an additional €165 million.
Works on loan include paintings by Rembrandt and Chardin, Classical statues of Isis, Roman sarcophagi and Islamic masterpieces: such as the Pyxis of Al-Mughira.
A Louvre Abu Dhabi source said the museum was designed to protect collections from both security threats and natural disasters.
