Al Qaeda affiliate mining uranium to send to Iran, Somali official warns US ambassador
Friday September 1, 2017
FILE PHOTO
- Letter from Somalia's foreign minister to U.S. ambassador
"This issue can be summed up in a single word: uranium," the letter said. "Al-Shabaab forces have captured critical surface exposed uranium deposits in the Galmudug region and are strip mining triuranium octoxide for transport to Iran.”
For the Trump administration, the warning represents yet another potential security threat, as the U.S. government simultaneously grapples with a nuclear standoff with North Korea, the prospect of a stalemate in Afghanistan and ISIS activity across the Middle East and North Africa.
But the letter said "now is not the time to look away," urging the U.S. ambassador to consider the request for intelligence and military assistance.
"Only the United States has the capacity to identify and smash Al-Shabaab elements operating within our country. The time for surgical strikes and limited engagement has passed, as Somalia’s problems have metastasized into the World’s problems,” the letter said. "Every day that passes without intervention provides America's enemies with additional material for nuclear weapons. There can be no doubt that global stability is at stake."
The State Department would not comment on the diplomatic letter, but did not dispute its authenticity and referred Fox News to the government of Somalia. Iran was supposed to pull back on its nuclear program under the terms of the agreement struck with the Obama administration.
Al Qaeda affiliate mining uranium to send to Iran, Somali official warns US ambassador
The letter, reviewed by Fox News, was addressed to U.S. Ambassador to Somalia Stephen Schwartz. Somalia's Ambassador to the U.S. Ahmed Awad confirmed to Fox News on Thursday that the letter "has indeed been issued" by Minister of Forei