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Iran
Egypt-Iran ties could yield al-Qaeda suspects
2004-01-06
A thaw between Iran and Egypt could help pave the way for a breakthrough on an important issue dividing Tehran from Washington — accusations that Iran has sheltered senior al Qaeda militants.
Like Binny and Ayman, or just Saad, Saif, and Sully?
A senior Iranian official said on Tuesday that Tehran and Cairo had agreed to restore diplomatic ties broken 25 years ago, although Egypt said a final decision had yet to be taken.
And therein lies the actual news in this article ...
"This move is certainly a breakthrough between the two countries and it could well pave the way for the handover of al Qaeda suspects," said Kevin Rosser, Middle East expert at Control Risks Group security consultancy. Washington has said al Qaeda militants based in Iran plotted suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia last May, and has demanded Iran help bring them to book. Iran denies al Qaeda operated from its territory but says it is holding unnamed militants in custody. It has held talks with other countries, including Egypt, to extradite suspects. Shiite Muslim Iran says it is ideologically opposed to Sunni-dominated al Qaeda and has arrested and deported hundreds of its militants since the war in Afghanistan.
They were saying they'd turned over names of Bad Guys they'd repatriated a couple months ago. Wonder whatever came of that?
The most important figure Western intelligence agencies say may be in Iran is an Egyptian — Saif al-Adel, al Qaeda’s security chief. Iran’s lack of ties with Egypt, which is a strong U.S. ally in the Middle East, was seen as one of the hurdles blocking his extradition. "If it is true that they are holding Saif al-Adel, and if it is true that he helped to orchestrate the terror attacks in Riyadh in May, then his handover to a friendly government would be an important step," said Rosser.
Y'might say that. There are also those rumors that Binny and Ayman are tooling around the country, thinly disguised as ayatollahs...
After allowing al Qaeda militants to enter Iran in the wake of the Afghanistan war, Iran’s leaders seem to have concluded they want nothing to do with the militants, said Dr Gary Sick, Middle East scholar at Columbia University in New York.
I don’t tend to share his optimism ...
I wonder what leads him to that opinion, if anything?
"They are no longer tempted to do a deal with al Qaeda. The folks that may have been prepared to do a deal with al Qaeda have been told that is not in the cards," he said.
Somebody better tell that to Ahmed Vahidi, the ex-Qods Force commander who’s now the deputy defense minister, as he’s said to be the one giving them shelter along with VEVAK. The reports that Saif has moved his address from eastern Iran to just north of Tehran would also tend to implicate the higher-ups, those "unelected hardliners" we keep hearing about.
"That may be part of what produced this opening between Egypt and Iran: the fact that Iran was taking a much more clear-cut view as far as al Qaeda is concerned could have simplified the discussions between (Presidents Hosni) Mubarak and (Mohammad) Khatami." Negotiations to turn over senior al Qaeda figures have so far been conducted mostly in secret. Among the problems for Iran would be explaining what militants were doing on its territory in the first place.
"Ummm... They ain't with us. Somebody left 'em here..."
"This is a murky area," said Sick. "Iran doesn’t admit that any of its people provided shelter in the first place, so the fact that this has changed is not something that they will want to publicize."
This man sounds like he’s extremely naive to me, unless he knows something we don’t.
Posted by:Dan Darling

#2  That's their biggest danger. Binny's promised to stage a big 'un this month or early next. If he (or his ghost) is successful, that leaves the Medes and the Persians in precisely the position the Talibs were in October 7th, 2001.
Posted by: Fred   2004-1-6 10:24:06 PM  

#1  It is possible that the Black Turbans would like to unload Al-Qaida leadership, as their continuing presence in Iran threatens American intervention. The Shiite Iranians cannot manage the Sunni Bin Ladens as well as they do Hezbollah. The Saudia financed Al-Qaida is therefore a loose cannon that would invite a direct and strong American response against Teheran in the event of another 9/11 attack.
Posted by: john   2004-1-6 2:59:32 PM  

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