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2003-05-29 Iran
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Revolutionary guards host al-Qaeda leaders, says US
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The tough line on Iran contemplated by the United States is partly driven by intelligence reports that Iranian revolutionary guards are sheltering al-Qaeda leaders at one of the former shah's hunting lodges. The leaders suspected of taking refuge in Iran include Saif al-Adel, the alleged mastermind of suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia this month, and Abu Mohammed al-Masri, a suspected organiser of the 1998 US embassy bombings in east Africa. They may also include Saad bin Laden, one of Osama bin Laden's sons. Intelligence sources said this week that the Egyptian-born al-Adel, believed to be No. 3 in the al-Qaeda leadership, has been seized in Iran.
Seized or house guest?
The trail of clues that led to a grand hunting lodge - now a military base - in the eastern highlands near the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan surfaced after an air crash in February outside Kerman killed 200 soldiers from the revolutionary guards. A Washington source claimed the crash produced intelligence that the revolutionary guards were "hosting" the al-Qaeda leaders.
We've been listening to their radio traffic.
The White House was prepared to accept Tehran's assurances that it was dealing with al-Qaeda infiltration, and that terrorism suspects in Iran were all in custody, until the bombings in Saudi Arabia. US officials claimed that electronic communications about the attacks were traced to Iran and to the al-Qaeda leaders.
NSA has been busy
The reports led the White House to urgently reconsider the US containment policy towards Iran. That review was already under way in light of mounting evidence on the progress of Tehran's nuclear program. The Iranian Government has said that al-Qaeda officials are in custody and are being questioned, but the United States rejects those assurances. In answer to US allegations that Iran was failing to combat the al-Qaeda network, Iran's Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharrazi, said that certain members of the group under arrest could be put on trial in Iranian courts. He insisted Iran was serious in fighting the group.
I'll believe it when it happens
Iran's supreme leader has ruled out any compromise with the US, accusing it of seeking to strip the Islamic republic of its values through a campaign of intimidation. "The United States is pressuring Iran in order to make the Iranian Government and nation give in," state media quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying. "Those who are intimidated by the enemy's demands will retreat step by step and finally surrender. But nobody has the right to do so, and the nation will not allow it," he said in a meeting with MPs.
"So there!" 
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Posted by Steve 2003-05-29 09:25 am||
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