| http://news.independent.co.uk/world...sp?story=410160
Washington refuses to believe Iran on nuclear weapons and terror suspects
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
28 May 2003
America is refusing to accept assurances from Tehran that it is not developing nuclear weapons or harbouring al-Qa'ida suspects.
The White House remained concerned that members of the terror network had taken refuge in Iran with the knowledge of some elements of the Iranian regime, Ari Fleischer, President George Bush's spokesman, said yesterday, in comments that marked a further souring of relations with Iran. Washington had previously said it believed those agents were behind the bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia that killed 34 people.
But Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, issued the starkest of warnings to Iran declaring that the allies would not permit some "new form of tyranny" to replace Saddam's regime in Iraq.
"Iran should be on notice that attempts to remake Iraq in Iran's image will be aggressively put down," he said.
Mr Fleischer said: "We continue to have concerns about al-Qa'ida being in Iran", and when asked about Iran's claim that its nuclear programme was purely for the generation of power, added: "We continue to have concerns that a nation that is awash in gas and oil would seek to produce peaceful nuclear energy."
The increase in tension followed an apparent thawing in relations after almost 25 years of no formal diplomatic contact. Officials from both countries have been meeting in Geneva to discuss matters such as search-and-rescue access during the war against Iraq and co-ordinated efforts to find al-Qa'ida members.
But a meeting scheduled for last Wednesday was called off by the US after it claimed Iran was sheltering al-Qa'ida members involved in the bombings in Riyadh on 12 May. Iran claimed on Monday to have arrested several suspects but Mr Fleischer said this was an insufficient response.
There is a debate in Washington on how to deal with Iran, whose relations with the West have improved in recent years under the influence of President Mohammad Khatami. Britain re-established full diplomatic relations in 1999.
Relations have not been so smooth between Iran and the US, which severed formal ties when Americans were taken hostage at the embassy in Tehran in 1979. More recently President Bush included Iran in his "axis of evil" when he made his first State of the Union speech in January 2002.
One source said a policy debate would take place with higher-level "principals" this week. "What we will be doing is looking at what our options are to try to get the Iranians to co-operate on al-Qa'ida in ways that they have in the past," said an official. "If there's an indication that we can't expect that kind of co-operation again, then we'll be looking at other options."
Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, said contacts with Iran would not stop. "I'm not aware of any changes in policy - we have contacts with them, they will continue."
Tehran told Washington to stay out of its internal affairs. "We hope that wisdom and logic dominates the Americans' debates and they refrain from carrying out any interference in our affairs," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. | |
