As the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 nears, former Sen. Joe Lieberman says the nation's lawmakers must not forget Iran's role in the staging the terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
"Our leaders seem to have forgotten Iran's role in that worst terror attack on American soil, and Iran's continuing assistance to terror organizations and operations around the world," Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat, writes in Thursdays editions of The Wall Street Journal.
He says while many al-Qaida leaders have been eliminated, one of its key partners, Iran, has never been held responsible for its "enabling role."
That lack of accountability comes even after the 9/11 Commission found "strong evidence that Iran facilitated the transit of al-Qaida members into and out of Afghanistan before 9/11, and that some of these were future 9/11 hijackers."
"Even as the U.S. has decried Iran's support for terrorism, Washington policy makers have pursued closer relations with Tehran … We negotiated with our enemy, the Iranian regime, notwithstanding its declared and demonstrated desire to destroy our country," writes Lieberman, who chairs United Against Nuclear Iran.
"On the 15th anniversary of 9/11, the U.S. should not be rewarding Iran for its deadly actions … It is time to hold the regime accountable for its reckless aggression and support of terrorism."