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Iran refuses âintelligenceâ to US
Thatâs ok, we refuse to think theyâre intelligent also. Iran said yesterday it would not share intelligence with the United States about Al Qaeda members it is holding and dismissed US charges that anti-American fighters were slipping across its borders into Iraq. "No, no! Certainly not!" US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Washington was prepared to resume limited contacts with the Iranian government but that relations would not improve until Tehran shared intelligence on Al Qaeda. "We donât have any relations with American security services so there is no reason to do anything on this issue," government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh said. Other than the fact that the current Administration has a long memory. President Mohammad Khatami rebuffed a call by President George W Bush on Tuesday for Iran and Syria to tighten their borders to stop fighters crossing into Iraq. "The accusations are not new, they have always made such baseless charges," Khatami said. Washington broke off talks with Tehran over Iranâs neighbours Afghanistan and Iraq in May after accusing Iran of sheltering Al Qaeda members behind bombings in Saudi Arabia on May 12 which killed 35 people, including nine Americans. Iran denies cooperating with Al Qaeda and says it has caught and extradited hundreds of suspected members of Osama bin Ladenâs network who fled from Afghanistan and Pakistan in the last two years. "Whereâd you extradite them to?" "Um, ... somewhere." Ramazanzadeh noted that Armitageâs comments on resuming talks with Iran were the first such remarks from a US official for some time but added that Tehran was waiting for Washington to take "practical steps" to improve relations. "It is not possible to threaten a country, to block its assets, to accuse it and then want talks," he said. Sure it is, when the country in question is hurting enough. Posted by: Steve White 2003-10-30 |
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