May 26, 2003	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23,1424

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TEHRAN, May 25: Iran’s Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi called Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network a “dangerous organisation” on Sunday and said his country was serious about combating it.

The Washington Post newspaper reported on Sunday the United States had broken off all contact with Iran following intelligence reports which suggested Al Qaeda operatives in Iran played a role in the May 12 suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia.

Kharrazi insisted Iran had already arrested and deported many Al Qaeda members who had crossed illegally into the country and was interrogating other suspects.

“We have been serious about Al Qaeda and we will remain serious about Al Qaeda because it is a very dangerous organisation,” Kharrazi told reporters after a meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

“There is no way that Iranians would support Al Qaeda because we have been fighting with Al Qaeda since before even the Americans were engaged with (fighting) them,” he said.

Iran, which is on US President George W. Bush’s “axis of evil” list, has come under increasing pressure from Washington since the end of the war in Iraq.

In recent weeks US officials have accused the Islamic Republic of meddling in post-war Iraq, developing nuclear weapons, sheltering Al Qaeda members and sponsoring terrorism. Iran denies all the US charges.

The Washington Post reported that Pentagon officials were pushing for the Bush administration to adopt a more aggressive policy to destabilise the Iranian government.—Reuters