... they really have not been friends to Al-Qaeda.
Iran hands over al-Qaeda suspects to US
PM Archive - Monday, 12 August , 2002 00:00:00
Reporter: Rafael Epstein
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In an unusually conciliatory move to Washington, Iran has handed over to Saudi Arabia, 16 people it suspects of being members of Al Qaeda, in the full knowledge that they may well end up being interrogated by American officials.
To put that in context, Iran is one of the countries George W Bush has labelled as the Axis of Evil, and Iran's ayatollahs have been describing America for more than two decades as the Great Satan.
The apparent thawing of relations between Iran and the US, was announced on American breakfast television, by the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia. The Saudis themselves are trying to repair strains in their relations with the US, the world's biggest oil consumer.
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http://www.abc.net.au/pm/s646675.htm12 August 2002
U.S. Pleased with Saudi, Iranian Cooperation Against Al Qaeda
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It is our understanding that Iran has rendered 16 al Qaeda suspects to Saudi authorities. I'd just refer you to Saudi officials and/or Iranian authorities for comments or specifics on this hand-over. I think, as we've said many times in the past, we've been very pleased with the level of Saudi cooperation in the international campaign against terrorism. When it's been in our interest to do so, we've not hesitated to also engage the Iranian government on such issues as the international efforts to bring al Qaeda terrorists to justice and to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan, as well as areas like counternarcotics and refugee relief. So we're continuing to cooperate with Iran in these mutual interests.
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http://www.usembassy-israel.org.il/publish/peace/archives/2002/august/081303.htmlIs Iran Next on Washington's Hit List?
September 9, 2002
by Charles V. Peña
The major media are dominated by the debate over the United States taking military action against Iraq. Skeptics are more vocal. And the administration appears to have dug in and become more resolute in its goal of regime change. But lost in the rhetoric on both sides is an important question: What comes after Iraq?
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Recently, the administration has accused Iran of harboring top-level al Qaeda leaders. This is simply the culmination of increasingly hostile rhetoric designed to bolster the case for the administration to take action against Iran after Iraq.
It would be folly for the United States to wage another war against another Muslim nation after Afghanistan and Iraq. Such action would be interpreted as a war against Islam by the rest of the Muslim world. If anything, the United States needs to avoid turning the war on terrorism against al Qaeda into a larger holy war against Islam and the more than one billion Muslims around the world. Yet this seems to be the course the administration is steering by putting Iraq and Iran in its sights.
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There are always risks and consequences to U.S. actions. The United States ought to think twice about pursuing a policy of pre-emptive military action that might lead to even more terrorism and the creation of more enemies. That is especially pertinent when the job of taking down al Qaeda - the group responsible for killing thousands of innocent people on Sept. 11 - remains largely unfinished.
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http://www.cato.org/dailys/09-09-02.htmlIran has shown no leniency towards al-Qaeda members: Asefi
5/26/03
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in Tehran on Monday that the Islamic Republic of Iran has never shown leniency towards members of Al-Qaeda so far, IRNA reported.
Talking to reporters, he said that any Al-Qaeda member who is caught trying to enter Iranian territory will be arrested, investigated and expelled and that a number of Al-Qaeda members are currently under investigation in the country.
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http://www.payvand.com/news/03/may/1131.htmlIran not harbouring Al-Qaeda, says India
Saturday, May 31, 2003
By Amit Baruah
ST. PETERSBURG MAY 30. India today made it clear that it did not share persistent concerns being expressed by the United States that Iran was harbouring Al-Qaeda elements and interfering in Iraq by supporting Shia resurgence in the war-torn country.
"Our own reading is not quite the same," the Foreign Secretary, Kanwal Sibal, said today, adding that Teheran had told India that the Iranian model did not apply to Iraq.
His remarks come amid continuing reports in the Western press that the U.S. Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, favoured a change of regime in Iran.
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http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2003/05/31/stories/2003053104451100.htm Iran Reportedly Nabs Bin Laden's No. 2 Man
Saturday, June 28, 2003
WASHINGTON — Ayman al-Zawahiri, Usama bin Laden's right-hand man, was reported last night to be in custody in Iran along with several other top Al Qaeda leaders.
The Arabic news channel Al-Arabiyah said the fanatic Egyptian-born doctor is under arrest in Iran along with bin Laden's son Saad and Al Qaeda's infamous spokesman Abu Ghaith.
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,90660,00.htmlIran holding al Qaeda leaders
Iran 'holding senior al Qaeda men'
Thursday, July 24, 2003 Posted: 1:02 AM EDT (0502 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Four top al Qaeda leaders are in custody in Iran, including the terrorist group's military leader and its spokesman, U.S. officials say.
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Iran says the United States last May provided it with a list of names of suspected al Qaeda members believed to be in Iran.
At the time, Iran said it would look into the matter but was unaware of where these individuals might be.
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http://www.peterbergen.com/clients/PeterBergen/pbergen.nsf/Web00002Show?OpenForm&ParentUNID=257C7B6DFBEB39DA85256D6D005EAA2Cfrom the July 28, 2003 edition
Iran holds Al Qaeda's top leaders
Tehran's custody of bin Laden's son and others is a blow to the terrorist organization.
By Faye Bowers Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – While much of the world is focused on US soldiers closing in on Saddam Hussein in Iraq, a much less-noticed but possibly even more important roundup is taking place in Iraq's neighbor to the east, Iran.
The Tehran government is holding several top-level Al Qaeda operatives that, experts say, could lead to the biggest breakthrough in curtailing the organization since the fall of Afghanistan.
Though the Iranians haven't mentioned any names, intelligence officials and press reports indicate they've captured Saad bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's son, who has assumed a leadership role; Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the Al Qaeda spokesman; and Saif al-Adel, the latest No. 3 who is believed to be in charge of military operations.
Even more significant, according to one Western intelligence official, Tehran is also holding Al Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is known as an Islamic fundamentalist intellectual and eloquent speaker for the organization. While some US intelligence sources have expressed doubt that Iran really has Dr. Zawahiri, the European official says Tehran "absolutely" has him.
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http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0728/p01s02-wome.htmlAl-Qaeda-linked group wiped out
08/04/2003 23:11
Halabja - US forces have wiped out an alleged al-Qaeda-linked group in northern Iraq with help from their Kurdish allies - but also their Iranian foes who have sealed off the Islamist militants' only exit.
US special forces set out on Tuesday from this town in Iraqi Kurdistan with Kurdish fighters to track down militants of the Ansar al-Islam group who might have survived the bombing and the onslaught on their stronghold.
The US forces kept mum on the location of their hunting ground, but a Kurdish official said it was a mountainous region on the border with Iran because "they have nowhere else to go" after the Islamic Republic "closed its border."
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http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1344997,00.htmlAl-Qaeda 'hates Iran as much as it hates the US'
August 14, 2003
The al-Qaeda terrorist network hates Iran as much as it hates the United States, Iranian President Mohammed Khatami said yesterday.
"Whenever we find al-Qaeda members, we arrest them and the group has as much hatred and enmity to Iran as it does to the US," Mr Khatami was quoted by the news agency IRNA as saying.
He reiterated that all al-Qaeda members whose nationality could be verified would be extradited. The others were to be tried inside Iran.
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http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/13/1060588457819.htmlOctober 27, 2003
Iran Says It Warned of Al Qaeda's 'Fanatic Nature'
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Defending its handling of terror networks, Iran told the United Nations it had warned the world of the "fanatic nature" of the Taliban and al Qaeda networks long before anyone else, according to a report released on Monday.
Iran submitted the report to a U.N. Security Council sanctions committee on Afghanistan about a month ago. But an extensive list of suspected Taliban or al Qaeda associates accompanying the document was only delivered several days ago, said Chilean Ambassador Heraldo Munoz, chairman of the panel.
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http://www.intellnet.org/news/2003/10/27/21092-1.html2 November (2003) Khaleej Times AFP
Newspaper prints names of 147 Al Qaeda suspects extradited by Iran
The pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat published on Sunday the names of 147 suspected members of the Al Qaeda network and the Taleban Islamic military who were extradited by Iran in October.
The Saudi-owned newspaper did not say how it obtained the list about which Iran informed the United Nations, but the article was datelined New York.
The names included 29 Saudis, 12 Jordanians, 13 Yemenis, six Moroccans, six Tunisians, one Syrian, seven Somalis, 35 Pakistanis and 24 others whose nationalities could not be established. The Pakistanis and the unknown group were handed over to Islamabad, the paper said. Three Afghans and three Lebanese were also identified.
“Iran says it handed them over to their own countries through diplomatic channels,” Al-Hayat said. Seven of the Yemenis were sent to Morocco and the Tunisians to Italy, it added without explanation.
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http://www.iranexpert.com/2003/namesofsuspects2november.htmForeign Minister confirms al-Qaeda bombing threats against Iran
12/22/03
Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi on Monday confirmed bombing threats made by al-Qaeda against Iran to avenge what has been rumored as Tehran having given tips to capture former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, IRNA reported from Tehran.
"Iran has always been a victim of terrorism, especially posed by al-Qaeda," he told reporters here on the fringes of an international conference on the challenges facing the Islamic world.
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http://www.payvand.com/news/03/dec/1165.htmlIran Expert Sees Need for United States and Iran to Open Dialogue Because 'We Are Now Neighbors'
Gary Sick, former director of Columbia University's Middle East Institute, forecasts a convergence of views between the United States and Iran because they "are now neighbors" and must broaden their dialogue. He says Iran seeks a stable Iraq. Concerning domestic Iranian politics, Sick says that conservatives are determined to prevail in Iran's upcoming parliamentary elections. But even if they win, he says, they are unlikely to try to restore the country's rigid social code, which has been gradually easing.
Sick, who worked on Iranian affairs for the National Security Council during the Carter administration and the early days of the Reagan administration, says there is no sign that Iran cooperated with al Qaeda. "There was no love lost between these two," he says. Sick was interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman, consulting editor for cfr.org, on January 27, 2004.
http://www.cfr.org/publication.php?id=6723(Toronto Star Mar. 2, 2004. 02:09 PM)
Iran blames Al Qaeda for attacks
Over 20 Iranians died in attacks in Iraq, Pakistan
Shiites, not U.S., is terror group's real enemy: Iranian vice president
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - An Iranian vice president blamed Al Qaeda for today's attacks on Shiite Muslims in Iraq and Pakistan, condemning the terrorist group's rigid thinking for the bombings and shootings that killed more than 20 Iranian worshippers and wounded 69.
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, Iran's vice president for legal and parliamentary affairs, wrote in a message posted on his personal Web site that Al Qaeda considers Shiites more dangerous than their political enemy - the United States.
"The reactionary Al Qaeda terror group reached a conclusion ... that they have two enemies: the United States as the political enemy and Shiites as the ideological enemy," Abtahi wrote.
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http://research.lifeboat.com/alqaeda.htmIran to Put Dozen Al Qaeda Captives on Trial
Fri January 23, 2004 01:01 PM ET
By Mark Trevelyan, Security Correspondent
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Iran, long accused by the United States of harboring al Qaeda militants, said for the first time on Friday that it would place a dozen jailed suspects on trial.
"They are currently in prison. Their relations are cut off from outside and they are going to be tried," Foreign Minister Khamal Kharrazi told Reuters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The most important al Qaeda figure that Western intelligence agencies say may be in Iran is Egyptian Saif al-Adel, the security chief of Osama bin Laden's network.
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http://middleeastinfo.org/article3856.htmlIran News
Al-Qaeda Trials in Iran Could Take Years
AFP
Jun 29, 2004, 07:32
Cabinet Spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh reiterated Iran's position that Tehran would only extradite fugitives deemed not to have acted against the state, and from countries with whom Iran has an extradition agreement. "If not, they will go on trial in Iran. However, it is a long process that could take two to three years," he said.
In 2003, Iran confirmed it was holding senior members from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, but has refused to identify them. The identity of those still being held has been the subject of intense speculation. Diplomatic sources and Arab press reports have pointed to the possible presence in Iran of the movement's spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Gaith, and its number three, Saif al-Adel, as well as bin Laden's son and al-Qaeda heir, Saad. Washington, however, has accused Iran's regime of harbouring and not arresting members of the network.
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http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/printer_2763.shtmlLost Chances in Iran
By David Ignatius
Friday, July 9, 2004; Page A19
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What's poignant about these wary U.S.-Iranian feelers is that just over a year ago, they yielded a plan for an "anti-terrorist" deal that both countries should have loved: Iran would hand over some senior al Qaeda operatives in its custody and the United States would transfer to Iran some prisoners it was holding from the Iraqi-backed Mujaheddin-e Khalq organization, a group America has officially branded as terrorist.
The State Department is said to have favored such a deal, but the Pentagon balked -- arguing that the Mujaheddin-e Khalq might be useful in fomenting regime change in Tehran. Sadly, this internal dispute between administration pragmatists and ideologues over Iran is similar to the feuds that have obstructed policy on North Korea and Iraq.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37953-2004Jul8.htmlrelated threads:
US sets sights on toppling Iran regime
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=690885Iran Arrests Iranian Al Qaeda Backers - State TV
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=692656