May 31, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 28, 1424

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TEHRAN, May 30: Iran was quick to deny on Friday a report it was holding a top Al Qaida official, but it said it had not yet identified the members of Osama bin Laden’s terror group it had detained.

The conflicting statements suggest Iran knows more than it is prepared to say at this stage. Tehran may also be unsure as to how to respond to the pressure of US allegations it is harbouring terrorists and might be pursuing nuclear weapons - accusations that Washington levelled at Baghdad before the Iraqi war.

The pan-Arab paper Asharq al-Awsat reported on Friday that Iran had arrested Suleiman Abu Ghaith, the Kuwaiti-born spokesman for Al Qaida who appeared on a video tape in late 2001 warning Americans of a “storm of aeroplanes” and advising Muslims to avoid living in “high buildings or towers” in the United States and Britain.

The Saudi-owned paper said its information came from unidentified Iranian and Kuwaiti sources. It did not say when or how Abu Ghaith was arrested.

Iranian Vice-President Muhammad Ali Abtahi told the Associated Press he had no information that Abu Ghaith was in Iranian custody. The vice-president is responsible for legal and parliamentary affairs.

“I categorically reject that Asharq al-Awsat report that Suleiman Abu Ghaith is in our custody,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told the AP.

Mr Asefi reiterated that Iran still had not identified its Al Qaida detainees. But he did not explain how he was sure that Abu Ghaith was not among them.

“When we have not identified those Al Qaida in our custody, we cannot confirm the report,” he replied when pressed further.

Last week, US officials, including Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, accused Iran of harbouring senior members of Al Qaida. American officials have said intelligence reports suggest that Al Qaida operatives in Iran had a role in the Riyadh suicide bombings of May 12 that killed 25 bystanders. Saudi Arabia has said it plans to seek the extradition of any Saudis who may be among Al Qaida members held in Iran.

On Thursday, Mr Asefi reversed himself when he conceded that senior Al Qaida members might be among those in detention in Iran. On Monday he had said the detainees did not include seniors.

“None of the Al Qaida members in our detention have been identified yet. We do not know whether leaders of the terrorist group, including Saif al-Adil, are in Iran or not,” Mr Asefi said on Thursday.

There have been reports in Western newspapers that Iran was holding Al Qaida security chief al-Adil.

Abu Ghaith, a former teacher and mosque preacher in Kuwait, became prominent after the US launched attacks on the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in October 2001. He was seen in video tapes sitting in the company of Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. In one video, he delivered an emotional tirade against Washington, warning of further attacks like those of Sept. 11, 2001, and saying the US attacks on Afghanistan and Al Qaida were a “war on Islam.”

Kuwait stripped him of his citizenship. The Asharq al-Awsat report said that Iran, which has previously deported Al Qaida detainees to their countries of origin, was looking for a country to accept Abu Ghaith.

A Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry official said on Friday he had no information that Iran had detained Abu Ghaith. He spoke on condition of anonymity.—APP