Updated January 17, 2009: Osama’s son coordinates call between Zawahiri and Iran’s Qods Force:
Sa’ad bin Laden facilitated communications between Ayman al Zawahiri and Qods Force, the notorious special operations branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, in September 2008 after the deadly attack on the US embassy in Yemen. … Sa’ad entered Pakistan’s northwest to meet with Zawahiri in Pakistan sometime in early September, McConnell [outgoing Director of National Intelligence] claimed. READ THE REST.
In the Long War Journal (January 16, 2009):
Osama bin Laden’s son and three other senior al Qaeda members living in Iran have been designated as terrorists by the US Department of the Treasury.
Sa’ad bin Laden, Mustafa Hamid, Muhammad Rab’a al Sayid al Bahtiti, and Ali Saleh Husain have been designated as terrorists under Executive Order 13224. “These three men all serve on al Qaeda’ Shura Majlis,” or executive planning council.
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Sa’ad bin Laden is designated as Osama’s heir. He is an operational commander who was involved in the 2003 bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Sa’ad made “key decisions for al Qaeda and was part of a small group of al Qaeda members that was involved in managing the terrorist organization from Iran,” according to the US Treasury. “As of September 2008, it was possible that Sa’ad bin Laden was no longer in Iranian custody.”