Mustafa Hamid is a senior al Qaeda leader who operates in Iran. He serves as al Qaeda™s emir of and ambassador to Iran. He has links to the highest levels of the Iranian government.
Hamid is described as “a primary interlocutor between al Qaeda and the Government of Iran,” the Treasury release stated. “While living in Iran, Hamid was harbored by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which served as Hamid’s point of contact for communications between al Qaeda and Iran,” The US Treasury said in a press release designating him as a terrorist.
Hamid is also al Qaeda™s emir of and ambassador to Iran. He has links to the highest level in the Iranian government.
The Treasury provides extensive details about Hamid’s close relationship with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps:
While living in Iran, Hamid was harbored by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which served as Hamid’s point of contact for communications between al Qaeda and Iran.
In the mid-1990s, Mustafa Hamid reportedly negotiated a secret relationship between Osama Bin Laden and Iran, allowing many al Qaeda members safe transit through Iran to Afghanistan.
In the late 1990s, Mustafa Hamid passed communications between Osama bin Laden and the Government of Iran. When tensions were high between Iran and Afghanistan, Mustafa Hamid traveled multiple times from Kandahar to Tehran as an intermediary for the Taliban.
In late 2001, Mustafa Hamid was in Tehran delivering messages from the Taliban to the Government of Iran. Hamid also negotiated on behalf of al Qaeda in an attempt to relocate al Qaeda families to Iran. As part of this effort, senior al Qaeda member Abu Hafs the Mauritanian traveled with Hamid and two IRGC members to Tehran for meetings. Beginning in late 2001, the family of a senior al Qaeda military commander lived with Mustafa Hamid’s family in Iran. Separately, in 2002 Mustafa Hamid facilitated contacts between the IRGC and another senior al Qaeda military commander. In mid-2003, Mustafa Hamid was arrested in Iran along with other al Qaeda members and associates.
Hamid is the father-in-law of Saif al Adel and ran a terrorist camp near Jalalabad during the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
