U.S. Quietly Warned Iran of Islamic State Threat Ahead of Deadly Blast: Report
The U.S. government quietly alerted Iranian authorities that an Islamic State offshoot was readying to carry out a terrorist attack ahead of the coordinated suicide bombings that killed 95 people in Kerman earlier this month, according to The Wall Street Journal. Citing U.S. officials, the newspaper reported Thursday that Washington warned Tehran after “[acquiring] intelligence” that ISIS-Khorasan, the group’s Afghanistan affiliate, was preparing to attack Iran. It was not immediately clear how the information was obtained, nor how exactly it was relayed; the U.S. has not had formal diplomatic relations with Iran since 1980, according to the State Department. The Journal’s sources said that the intelligence was specific enough that Iran could have acted to thwart or blunt the Jan. 3 bombings, but that Tehran did not respond to the warning. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to the Journal’s request for comment.
