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| Iraq |
| Neighbouring nations close possible Iraqi escape hatch |
| 2003-04-04 |
| Iran and Syria have heeded blunt US diplomatic warnings and at least temporarily closed their borders with Iraq. Senior US officials say the move could prevent hundreds of al-Qaeda and Ansar al Islam extremists from escaping into Iran and cut off Arab fighters and military equipment arriving from Syria. "Don't make me come in there!" The developments underscored the intense diplomacy required to prevent the war from becoming a regional conflict. To drive home its message with Iran, US officials in recent weeks have held at least two rounds of secret talks in Europe with Iranian representatives and relayed three "tests" through Swiss diplomats in Tehran designed to determine whether the Islamic republic intends to use the Iraq war to back away from or draw closer to terrorists. US officials said the escape of Muslim extremists into Iran would be a setback in the war on terrorism because the northern Iraq enclave was the largest known concentration of al-Qaeda and Ansar al Islam operatives outside Afghanistan. We'll have to wait and see what Iran does |
| Posted by:Steve |