October 4 2026 Update to Attempted Sept-11 Terrorist Attack Article:
Flydubai Jihadi Terrorist almost killed hundreds. Heroes Stop Him
(article version of original September 30 2026 post)
The would-be hijacker has been identified. Since he had been reported as an Omani there was a chance he was Shiite, and thus more easily be found to be linked to Iran.
His name, Hamam al-Hammami, Syrian mother and reported Al-Qaeda posts on social media all indicate that he is likely Sunni instead.
This should hardly be surprising however, since as we have seen Iran is obviously terrified to launch even one missile or drone at Israel and providing Netanyahu with the opportunity to finish the job (as we discussed earlier and reported before anywhere else that I am aware of... Iranian strategy after the MOU became simple and two-fold, “Hold on, do not break” (as the Trump administration apparently does and will), and “whatever you do don't shoot even a single rocket at Israel”); it would be strange if they would order the mass murder of an entire plane full of Israelis in any way that could be directly linked back to them.
If they do not want to bear the retaliation of a missile attack likely to kill no one, they are not likely to desire the retaliation for such a mass murdering act.
So, is it possible for a Sunni Al-Qaeda inspired terrorist to have Iranian links or support? Absolutely it turns out.
First we have to note that there is something a bit unusual for a 29 year old suicide terrorist to be quoting Al-Qaeda figures and videos. In the Muslim world, Al-Qaeda is somewhat passé, especially among the younger crowd (the age-group attackers belong to). ISIS and other newer Sunni factions took the arena by storm with much more savvy social media marketing apparent successes after Al-Qaeda's defeats and seeming demise.
Al-Qaeda and their long religious speeches and proclamations remain popular among certain circles, potentially including among more analytical minds (like that of a pilot), and potentially among a would-be airline terrorist (al-Qaeda with Sept 11 retains the airline terror world title), but in general it is a bit unusual.
However, Al-Qaeda certainly remains the go-to term for a recognizable Sunni terrorist group in the Western mind. Meaning, if you asked an Iranian regime figure which group Americans would recognize and believe could commit a high profile act of terror while having no link to Iran, Al-Qaeda and its affiliates would be a top answer.
Interestingly, one of the jihadi posts on his X account (made post-attack by the way) featured Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the Jordanian doctor and reported triple agent who carried out the 2009 suicide attack on Camp Chapman in Afghanistan, killing 9 people including 5 CIA officers, 2 CIA contractors and a Jordanian intelligence officer.
The success of that operator as a triple agent (having led the US and Jordanian intelligence that they had successfully turned him into a double agent) is of note.
Also of note is that the families of the American families in that case successfully sued Iran for damages (for over $268 million), despite it being an Al-Qaeda operation.
Which leads us to the main point. Regardless of anything else, even at face value Al-Qaeda and Iran are intimately linked. While other Sunni groups like ISIS and even Syria's Julani's HTS are fierce enemies of the Iranian regime and actively have battled it and/or its proxies, Al-Qaeda has always had a much more nuanced relationship with Iran.
We need not dig very deep to find it. We can start by Osama Bin Laden's description of the relationship in a letter (to an affiliate in Iraq) seized during the famous Navy Seals Team Six raid on his Pakistani compound.
Bin Laden is unhappy that his affiliate has threatened Iran and reminds him: "for as you are aware, Iran is our main artery for funds, personnel, and communication, as well as the matter of hostages".
This does not mean that Al-Qaeda and Iran are in a devoted and loving relationship. But it does indicate to us that they have substantial dealings. For decades now (starting in the 90's), Iran has provided safe harbor to Al-Qaeda leadership, a base of operations and a logistics pipeline to and from Pakistan and Afghanistan for the group. As AQ's world has shrunk, Iran has become a bigger part of it.
Iran has also held Al-Qaeda members (and even Bin-Laden family members) in varying states of detention (including prison, house arrest and fake house arrest).
Sometimes it has announced the detention of certain members in order to deflect accusations of providing them with safe harbor. Other times, it really has detained certain other members.
The picture that emerges is that Iran has a long-running understanding with Al-Qaeda and a lot of leverage over it. The understanding is that Iran provides a base of operations, safe harbor, a logistics, financial and travel pipeline to the group in exchange for immunity from its attacks, and at the very least being kept up to date on its activities (if not also sometimes acting on Iran's behalf).
The leverage comes from the vital lifeline Bin Laden describes, and from the growing percentage of its leadership that reside within Iran's borders. Whether free, semi-detained or in prison, the presence of Al-Qaeda leaders, other members and family in Iran automatically mean very significant influence.
In a similar fashion, we have discussed Qatar's influence over Hamas, since its senior leadership lives there. In Iran's case the control and threat is much sharper and more ruthless. Qatar could expel Hamas leaders, and perhaps seize some of their assets. It would have to be truly desperate to do more than this, as their presence in the country and what it does to them is public knowledge.
Al-Qaeda's presence in Iran is covert by definition, as is the Iranian regime in general. Iran can detain, torture, and kill these Sunni asylum seekers at will.
What emerges is that what remains of Al-Qaeda is largely at the mercy of Iran, and what started as a pragmatic relationship with the interest of hurting common enemies (which Iran and Al-Qaeda share abundantly), has likely turned into something more akin to a hostage terrorist group (similar to Abu Nidal's group in Iraq pre 2003 US Invasion). Al-Qaeda is Iran's in-house Sunni jihadist group.
Iran is famous for its Shia proxies around the region, but it is less understood that it can not only have Sunni proxies (such as Hamas), but all sorts of shadowy groups of various flavors it can use to maintain plausible deniability.
The above picture, estimated to be from around 2015, emerged much more recently (~2022) and shows three senior Al-Qaeda leaders in Tehran. They certainly don't appear to be in prison or house arrest (as certain Iranian sources claimed).
You have from left to right, Saif al Adel, Abu Mohamed Al-Masri, and Abu al-Khayr al-Masri.
Saif Al Adel is an Egyptian (Egyptian Islamic Jihad), founding member of Al-Qaeda (one of the few left alive) and a member of its Shura Council. More importantly, according to various sources including a 2023 UN Report, he is and has been Al-Qaeda's de facto leader since Ayman al-Zawahiri's death in 2022.
Apparently he has not been named the Emir for a few reasons, chief among them the obvious problem of having AQ's Sunni chief living and based out of Shia Iran (with the obvious implication of doing Iran's bidding).
Abu Mohammed al-Masri (or Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah), also an Egyptian and reported to be second in command of AQ at the time of his death. He was one of the original 22 in the FBI's list of "Most Wanted Terrorists" released after the Sept 11 attacks in 2001.
He was wanted for the 1998 US embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. One of his daughters married one of Bin Laden's sons. After the US intervention in Afghanistan he fled to Iran. At some point, he was reportedly detained. True or not, it seems that by 2015 he was free within Iran's borders.
Abdullah Abdullah was gunned down and killed in Tehran in August 2020, reportedly by the Mossad. In 2021, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed Abdulla'hs death.
Finally, Abu Khayr al-Masri (another Egyptian) was another member of AQ's Shura Council. He also moved to Iran after 9-11, and reportedly left Iran around 2015, for Syria and its then raging civil war. He was eventually killed by a US Hellfire missile in 2017.
Abd al-Rahman al-Maghrebi, Yasin al Suri and Sultan Yusuf Hasan al Arif are also senior AQ leaders that the US State Department places recently in Iran.
Until Ayman al Zawahiri's death in 2022 (US drone strike in Kabul), there was top level Al-Qaeda leadership daring to live outside of Iran (and thus who could resist its demands). Since then, the leadership cadre, certainly the one with the right lineage, is largely within Iran.
Of course, their influence on far flung affiliates is not absolute, as AQ's influence never was, but for those who want to toe the line of Al-Qaeda purists, the official leadership is now largely in Tehran.
And what that means, is that without even considering Sunni Jihadi presence in Gaza (including AQ inspired groups with some challenging Hamas such as the Dogmush clan), or the Salafi-jihadist HTS in Syria and other Turkish-backed groups, Israel can easily point to Iranian responsibility, even for an Al-Qaeda ordered or inspired terrorist act.
A US court looked at a similar situation and held Iran responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for a single AQ attack (Camp Chapman).
With the intelligence agencies of the US (and the vast electronic resources at their disposal), the Emiratis, Jordan, and Israel (perhaps the Saudi as well), there is a good chance to find the links, if they exist, to those who supported, abetted, commanded or influenced the failed Omani terrorist.
Early on I posted and commented on the relative sophistication of this attack vs your average suicide bomber attack (which tends to be very primitive), and thus that it carries a higher likelihood for outside support. We shall see if that pans out through the investigation, but what should be clear enough already is that Iran is not only the world's top state sponsor of terrorism in general, it is also today's main sponsor of Al-Qaeda. The fact that Hamam al-Hammami points to this organization as his inspiration for his attempted-mass murder, should itself be enough for Israel to retaliate against its state sponsor, with whom its in a fierce war as it is already.
At Trump's demand, has Israel held back for months now, and Iran (having learned that Trump cannot hold Israel back, and certainly not again) has freely fired at every state in the region (including Israel’s neighbor Jordan repeatedly, just to prove the range is not the issue), at the US, at military and civilian targets, as well as at global commercial shipping.
Iran lashes out wildly at every direction, as it tries to outlast the Trump's administration willpower (especially seeking refuge in a fast approaching post-election (both US and Israeli) world), but keeps Israel out of the fight by not striking her directly, despite all of its previous promises and threats, including those regarding IDF continued presence in Lebanon and Gaza.
Israel should not make the error of retaliating according to the level of success the enemy achieved, which nearly miraculously and thanks to the bravery and courage of a few people, was none in this attack, but rather according to his intent.
In days around the anniversary of the Oct 7th massacre, and of the 9-11 attacks on the US, an Al-Qaeda operative tried to reenact the mass murder on unarmed civilians including women and children. If all Mr. Netanyahu was waiting for was one ballistic missile from Iran, then this should be far more than enough.
The courage of the heroes on the flight, that of our Hindi pilot friend, and four Jews, and the good fortune that Gd graced them with, should not be rewarded by the apathy of their friends and countrymen. We should all show courage in return, and finish the job our enemies started.