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| Sunday, 13 January 2002 |
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Iran foreign minister denies al Qaeda ties UNITED NATIONS, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Iran's foreign minister late on Friday strongly denied reports his country was allowing al Qaeda members to cross the border from Afghanistan and that Tehran was backing warlords???Kabul's interim government. President George W. Bush warned Iran on Thursday against harboring members of the al Qaeda network who fled Afghanistan or seeking to destabilize the fledgling central authority. "In fact we have totally closed our borders and we are taking care of any passing of the border by any elements from Afghanistan," Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told reporters after discussions with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "More than that, we have established visas between Iran and Arab countries in our region to avoid any sort of unwanted guests," he said. "If there are any members (of al Qaeda) found on Iranian soil they certainly would be apprehended by Iranian authorities." During his talks with Annan, Kharrazi, a former U.N. ambassador, initiated a discussion on the reports and denied the allegations in detail, particularly charges concerning the new Kabul authorities that the United Nations backs, sources close to the secretary-general said. The minister is the most senior government official to speak out on the controversy. He was in New York for a day to hand over the chairmanship to Venezuela of the Group of 77 developing nations. On warlords ignoring the new Kabul authority, Kharrazi said Iran did have relations with some provincial leaders but "we encourage them to cooperate with the central government because we believe security will be maintained if the supreme authority is successful." The United States and Iran have been at loggerheads for two decades, and U.S. officials have become increasingly concerned that Tehran, in an attempt to head off Western influence in the region, is flexing its muscle in and around its border with Afghanistan. "If they in any way, shape or form try to destabilize the government, the coalition will deal with them, in diplomatic ways, initially, and we would very much like them to be active participants in a stable Afghanistan," Bush said. As for al Qaeda members fleeing to Iran, Bush said he hoped Iran "would continue to be a positive force in helping us to bring people to justice." DENIES ARMS SHIPMENTS TO PALESTINIANS Kharrazi, in answer to questions, also called "baseless" charges Iran was involved in a shipment of arms, seized by the Israeli navy on Jan. 3, and destined for the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has denied any knowledge of the affair. Israel said the weapons came from Iran. "That is totally baseless," Kharrazi said. "I believe that this is a story fabricated by Israel." He said the United States should base any accusations on credible information "not just accusations which are brought by the Israelis." Kharrazi's comments on Afghanistan were more measured than those earlier on Thursday from a former Iranian president and adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "The Americans, thinking they face no challenge, are coming rude and impudent," Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, said in a Tehran prayer sermon. But a leading reformist parliamentarian, Gholamhossein Barzegar, said, "I warn politicians in the background not to speak in a way to cause problems for Iran." Iran had clashed with the Taliban, which sheltered al Qaeda, and has housed more than 2 million Afghan refugees fleeing from the civil war over the last decade. |
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