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FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN HAMID-REZA ASSEFI: Alleged Presence of Al-Qaeda Members in Iran Totally Baseless
Tuesday, August 6, 2002
Tehran Times Political Desk

"In order to conserve energy, Western countries themselves put great pressure on Iran to build the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and after Iran already spent millions of dollars on the project these countries reneged on their obligation to complete it. Thus, to avoid wasting more money Iran was forced to ask Russia to complete it," Assefi told reporters. If Western countries themselves agreed to complete the project then there would have been no occasion to make the unfounded accusation that Iran is trying to gain access to nuclear weapons by building nuclear plants.

TEHRAN -- TT
The Islamic Republic of Iran on Monday vehemently rejected a U.S. accusation that Al-Qaeda members are holed up in its territory.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi told reporters in his weekly address that Iran has been among the few countries which have always opposed the Taleban and Al-Qaeda and therefore the accusation would be totally baseless.

By leveling such lies, Assefi said, the U.S. is trying to undermine international bodies such as the United Nations in order to achieve its illegitimate interests.

By spreading these lies the U.S. is trying to encroach into the affairs of a sovereign state and get its hands into everything which is opposed by world public opinion, Assefi further said.

He advised White House officials "to heed world public opinion and renounce such a policy," saying it would be to their benefit.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan, on Friday accused Iran of harboring members of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network after they fled the U.S. bombing onslaught on Afghanistan.
(More: TehranTimes.com News Source)
2002 © The Tehran Times.

Dan