Iran refuses US al-Qaeda access
BBC 8.13.2003
Iran has no intention of allowing United States officials to interrogate the al-Qaeda suspects it has arrested, the country's president has said.
US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said on Tuesday that Washington wanted to interrogate senior al-Qaeda members being held in Iran.
But Tehran has refused to identify which al-Qaeda members it has caught and has already ruled out handing them over to the US.
Saad Bin Laden, son of the Saudi-born al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, is thought to be one of the men being held by the Iranians.
Egyptian Saif al Adel, believed to be the network's security chief, and Kuwait-born Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, al-Qaeda's spokesman, are also reported to be under arrest.
Animosity towards US
Speaking after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, President Khatami said: "Al-Qaeda members in our custody will be questioned. If they should be tried (in Iran) they will be. If they should be deported, they will be."
Tehran says it will extradite some al-Qaeda suspects to unspecified "friendly countries" and try those whose citizenship has been revoked and cannot be extradited.
"We will arrest all members of al-Qaeda members we find. Their animosity toward us is nothing compared with their animosity toward the United States," added the president.
Asked whether the al-Qaeda suspects it has detained were being held in safe houses or in prison, Mr Khatami said: "They are under arrest."
Iran says it has arrested and deported around 500 al-Qaeda members in the last year, many of whom crossed into Iran from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Some have been sent to Saudi Arabia.
At Wednesday's news conference, the president also denied Iranian press speculation that Tehran secretly asked Washington in late July to resume informal talks.
Tehran and Washington severed diplomatic relations in 1980 after Iran's Islamic revolution.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3147933.stm PLANNERS SAY IRAN'S ECONOMIC FUTURE LOOKS GRIM.
According to a report from the Management and Planning Organization, economic conditions in Iran will deteriorate in the coming decade if current trends continue, "Iran Daily" reported on 11 August.
Some 5.3 million people will be jobless in 2015, the report says, translating into an unemployment rate of 17.5 percent. It adds that inflation will hit 22 percent, and there will be a 19.8 percent negative trade balance. GDP will grow by 3.9 percent annually, it predicts, and the amount of non-oil exports will increase. The ratio of non-oil-to-oil exports is expected to remain the same, however. BS
Source RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 151, Part III, 11 August 2003
Thank you for the pings, and good morning.
FOXNEWS covered this al Qaeda/Iran story, this AM, with Bill Cowan. Good exposure.