LONDON: Tehran denied on Tuesday allegations made by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that Iran was harbouring Osama bin Laden’s son and supporting him as the new leader of Al Qaeda.

Prince Mohammed told CBS in an interview that Iran was protecting Al Qaeda ope­­­ratives, including some of Osama bin Laden’s relatives.

“This includes the son of Osama bin Laden, the new leader of Al Qaeda. He lives in Iran and works out of Iran. He is supported by Iran,” he claimed.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi called crown prince’s comments a “big lie”.

Hamza bin Laden was one of several family members of Osama bin Laden who ended up in Iran after the Sept 11 attacks on New York in 2001. Documents recovered from his father’s compound in Pakistan after he was killed in a US raid in 2011 said that Hamza was, at least for a period, held under house arrest in Iran. His current whereabouts are not known.

Since Osama bin Laden’s death, Al Qaeda has been led by his former deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. None­theless Hamza has issued a number of messages on be­­half of the network in recent years, threatening further violence against the West.

The group has been sidelined significantly by the militant organisation Islamic State.

Iran’s Qasemi said that after the US invasion of Afghanistan began in 2001, some Al Qaeda fighters had crossed into Iran illegally, but that they had been arrested and extradited to their countries of origin. These included Osama bin Laden’s family members with Saudi citizenship.

“Bin Laden’s daughter was extradited to the Saudi embassy in Tehran,” Qasemi was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

“Upon consultation with Saudi Arabia, other members of bin Laden’s family were deported through the same border they had illegally entered Iran,” he added.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2018