TEHRAN, May 22: Iran is protesting vociferously against US charges that it is harbouring Al Qaeda operatives on its territory, as it faces increasing anger from Washington.

The accusations followed suicide bombings that killed 75 people, including eight Americans, in Riyadh and Casablanca, and came as both sides revealed that they were talking about problems of common interest despite a 23-year break in diplomatic relations.

Those talks, covering such subjects as Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terrorism, were in trouble on Thursday amid reports that the United States was pulling out.

“Just from a factual standpoint there is no question but that there have been and are today senior Al Qaeda leaders in Iran and they are busy,” Rumsfeld said.

“The presence of Al Qaeda operatives working from Iran is a matter of very serious concern to us,” Boucher said.

Iran for its part has not changed its line, saying it has expelled some 500 suspected Al Qaeda members or sympathisers and that the United States must show proof that any remain.

“We have said so many times, and even the US knows, that we are massively combating all sorts of Al Qaeda presence in our country,” Iranian government spokesman Abdullah Ramezanzadeh said.—AFP