ISLAMABAD, Jan 24: US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Robert Mueller on Thursday expressed concern that Al Qaeda members may be using Iran as an escape route out of Afghanistan.

Mueller said he could not confirm US press reports that members of Osama bin Laden’s alleged terrorist organization were escaping Afghanistan across its western border with Iran.

But it was an issue being discussed in Washington, he said.

“Yes, I think we’re worried about Al Qaeda operatives fleeing to Iran,” he told a press conference in Islamabad.

“To the extent that there can be something done about that, I’m sure that others in the American government are undertaking discussions with those who deal with Iran (to ensure that) appropriate steps are taken.”

Iran was an opponent of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and was one of the main supporters of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance during the civil war.

But Iranian officials have vehemently denied reports in the New York Times this month which quoted unidentified US intelligence officials saying Iran may be providing shelter to Al Qaeda members.

The sources told the newspaper that Iran had placed agents in western Afghanistan to destabilize the UN-backed interim government established after the ouster of the Taliban and prevent it from becoming too close to the West.

Iran’s foreign minister told the United Nations in New York on Jan 12 that there were no Al Qaeda members on Iranian soil, state radio in Tehran reported.

During a meeting with UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, Kamal Kharazi also reiterated that his country “did not support the opposition” to the government recently established in Kabul.

“The information on the presence of Al Qaeda members in Iran is false,” he said.—AFP