Mike Pompeo says al Qaeda has new home in Iran, gives no hard evidence

Pompeo told a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington that he was announcing publicly for the first time that al-Masri died on Aug. 7 last year.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday, without providing hard evidence, that al Qaeda had established a new home base in Iran and the United States had fewer options in dealing with the group now it was "burrowed inside" that country.

With just eight days left in office for President Donald Trump, Pompeo alleged that Iran has given safe haven to al Qaeda leaders and support for the group, despite some skepticism within the intelligence community and Congress.

The New York Times reported in November that al Qaeda's Abu Muhammad al-Masri, accused of helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings