9/11 against Iran?

[Strategos' Risk]

Could AQ have ever massively attacked the bastion of Shia Islam that is Iran?

 

[Ganesha]

Could AQ have ever massively attacked the bastion of Shia Islam that is Iran?

Sure they could've. It might even have been easier. Problem is, there's fewer high-profile targets in Iran, the Iranians were expecting it, and the Iranians were just as willing as the US to invade Afghanistan; except they wouldn't have been nearly as pleasant.

 

[pnyckqx]

Could AQ have ever massively attacked the bastion of Shia Islam that is Iran?

Al Qaeda is a Suni organization. The Iranians aren't particularly happy with them either, especially since citizens in good standing of the Islamic Republic of Iran were killed in the towers on 9/11.

 

[altamiro]

Al Qaeda is a Suni organization. The Iranians aren't particularly happy with them either, especially since citizens in good standing of the Islamic Republic of Iran were killed in the towers on 9/11.

That was exactly the point of the OP.

 

[Rickshaw]

Could AQ have ever massively attacked the bastion of Shia Islam that is Iran?

They could have. However it wouldn't have satisfied their objective of provoking a knee-jerk reaction from the "Great Satan" against Muslims, thereby driving more Muslims to support Al Q'aeda. Its a shame that the US Government did exactly what Al Q'aeda wanted.

 

[celt]

If the Iranians had invaded Afghanistan after the Taliban had beheaded their diplomats in the late 90s,AQ probably would have started doing attacks in Iran to placate their Taliban hosts.

 

[Thande]

Iran already gets loads of terrorist attacks on its soil from the MKO, a more spectacular 9/11-style attack wouldn't be as dramatic to them as it was to the Americans.