Abu-Mussab Al-Zarqawi in direct collaboration with the Islamic Republic

Iran Press News: Translation by Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzzi

Hazem Sha'lan, Minister of Defense of the Iraqi interim government, who has repeatedly and emphatically stressed the Islamic Republic of Iran's continued meddling in Iraqi affairs as well as the revolutionary guards' support system for Islamic terrorists, in an interview with Asharq Alawsat, exposed the fact that Abu-Mussab Al-Zarqawi, the head of the Iraqi branch of Al Qaeda is in direct collaboration with the security and intelligence apparatus of the Islamic regime. Sha'lan stressed that the regime's direct support for Al-Zarqawi and other Islamic terrorist groups in Iraq is in order to bring pressure against American forces. According to an article in the London Sunday Times, Al-Zarqawi who is directly responsible for an incalculable number of crimes, such as bombings, kidnappings, hostage taking, beheadings, etc. received medical treatment in Iran, at the behest of the Islamic regime when wounded, a while back.