Iran dismisses US claims it gave al-Qaeda safe haven

The Scotsman ^ | July 19, 2004 | ALI AKBAR DAREINI

[MadIvan]

IRAN admitted yesterday that some al-Qaeda operatives behind the 11 September attacks may have passed through the country from Afghanistan - but dismissed as "fabrications" reports from the United States that Tehran may have facilitated the 2001 attacks. "It’s normal that five or six people may have crossed the border within a couple of months without our knowledge ... Our borders are long and it’s not possible to fully control them," Hamid Reza Asefi, a foreign ministry spokesman, told reporters.

Mr Asefi was responding to an 11 September Commission report - expected on Thursday - that says Iran may have facilitated the 2001 attacks in the United States by providing eight to ten al-Qaeda hijackers with safe passage to and from terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.

John McLaughlin, the CIA’s acting director, said yesterday it was known for some time that hijackers passed through Iran but he would not implicate the Iranian government.

"We have no evidence that there is some sort of official connection between Iran and 9/11," he said.

Iran insists it has made a significant contribution to the war on terror by arresting agents of al-Qaeda, but the US accuses Tehran of harbouring al-Qaeda fugitives. Tehran also complains that, instead of rewarding Iran, George Bush, the US president, included the country in the list of his "axis of evil" partners together with North Korea and pre-war Iraq. Mr Asefi said that Iran will remain committed to fighting al-Qaeda. "Iran has proved it is against terrorists and extremism," he said.

And he said Iran was not surprised by the allegations. "The more we approach the [US] presidential elections, we will witness more of such news fabrications," he said.

The spokesman said that US was accusing Iran of harbouring al-Qaeda to cover "its defeat in Iraq".

The intelligence minister, Ali Yunesi, said last year that Iran was holding "a large number of small and big-time elements of al-Qaeda". Iran says it has handed over more than 500 suspected al-Qaeda operatives, mostly Saudis, to their home countries.

American counter-terrorism officials have said a handful of senior al-Qaeda operatives who fled to Iran after the war in Afghanistan three years ago may have developed a working relationship with a secretive military unit linked to Iran’s religious hard-liners. Iran has rejected the charges.

[MadIvan]

Somehow I don't believe Iran, do you? :)

Call me an old cynic, I guess..

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Ping!

[SevenofNine]

YEAHHH I believe Iran deniel SURE IVAN SUREE

NOTTT SHUT UP Iran you guys so busted it known fact that you play footsy with Al Quada that a fact

Brit MI-5 busted your a**

[nopardons]

Oh yeah...I reaaly,really,REALLY believe anything and everything the Iranian leaders have to say.(/sarcasm)

[weegee]

"IRAN admitted yesterday that some al-Qaeda operatives behind the 11 September attacks may have passed through the country from Afghanistan - but..."

Laura Ingrahm's But-Monkey returns.

[Admin Moderator]

"Iran has proved it is against terrorists and extremism,"

lol

[nopardons]

They know how to tell a joke...don't they?

[Admin Moderator]

great sense of humor!

[Grampa Dave]

When the regime finally comes to Iran, and the real news and reality gets out about the last twenty years, it will be very embarrassing for liberal politicians around the world.

Also, the world will know what so many of us know. The Queen Bee Hive of Islamoterrorism is located in Iran and has been for about two decades.

[truth_seeker]

Sure sounds like the Iranian government is quick to deny that which they haven't been accused of.

Recent reports that America will support overthrow of the mullah dictatorship, prospects for Iraq working out reasonably well (considering the degree of difficulty), the ongoing unrest of the Iranian population---

Factors which surely have the Iranian elite on edge, to say the least.

If Bush gets re-elected, two years from now could see a modern, moderate and popular government in Iran.

Hopefully we can warn the French, Germans and Russians to keep hands off.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

They seem very proud of their Help for the AQ's !

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

MADIVAN-----


Thanks for posting this, we'll never see it in a US Newspaper Frontpage.

[nopardons]

Absolutely,but not quite as good as Baghdad Bob's. :-)

[Admin Moderator]

;)

[John Valentine]

Without passing judgement on Iran's complicity or the lack of it, I have to say that aspersions based on "transiting" a country lacks a certain degree of gravitas.

After all, the very same terrorist gang responsible for 9-11 had "transited" the United States not once, but several times.

[sweneop]

the arguments is that border guards failed to mark thier passports... but of course with irans power structure, such aid wouldnt even have to come from the top, and would only come from the theocracy side of things.

saying 'iran' did this may or may not be wholly accurate.

[nopardons]

:-)

[Happygal]

Yer an old cynic! ;-)

[weegie]

I still find it hard to believe the Iran - Al Quaeda link, largely based on the visceral hatred that the Wahabi reserve for Shias. Ramzi Yousef, the Al Quaeda connected perpetrator of the WTC bombing in the 90s was also responsible for the bombing of Shia mosques inside Iran.
The issue of transiting is a bit of a red herring - hundreds of miles of trackless mountains. There are regular gun battles between Iranian border guards and heroin smugglers coming out of Afghanistan. After all illegals and drug smugglers can move over the comparatively built up US - Mexico border.

[lainde]

bttt