In an interview with the Al-Qaeda media company Al-Sahab, Al-Qaeda deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri accused Iran of collaborating with the U.S. in the latter's invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and stated that even though Iran reiterates slogans of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel," no Shi'ite cleric inside or outside Iran had ever issued a fatwa calling for jihad against the Americans in Iraq or in Afghanistan.

With regard to the possibility of Al-Qaeda helping Iran in the event of a U.S. attack on it, Al-Zawahiri said: "Iran has stabbed a knife into the back of the Islamic nation, and the traces of this stabbing will remain in the memory of the Muslims for a long time to come." He wondered whether Tehran was more important to Iranians than Karbala and Najaf [which are holy to Shi'ites], because while they did not lift a finger when the Americans struck Karbala and Najaf, they threatened to retaliate harshly if the Americans attacked Iran.

Al-Zawahiri called on the jihad fighters in Iraq to unite their ranks, to ignore the regime's clerics, to fight the Crusaders and those who collaborate with them, and to join with the Islamic State of Iraq in order to establish the Islamic Caliphate.

Source: http://www.ek-ls.org, December 16, 2007