U.S. Warns Iran Against Harboring Terrorists

The United States warned Iran on Wednesday not to harbor terrorists after Tehran rejected a newspaper report that it had given refuge to two deputies of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network.

The Washington Post, quoting unidentified Arab intelligence sources, reported Wednesday that two Al Qaeda deputies were in Iran, along with dozens of Al Qaeda fighters, and were said to be plotting new attacks.

The paper identified the two as Saif Adel, an Egyptian on the FBI’s most-wanted list, and Mahfouz Ould Walid, whom U.S. officials reported killed in Afghanistan in January.

Tehran rejected the report. “It has become a bad habit of some American circles to issue repetitious and baseless charges against Iran. Those Al Qaeda members are not in Iran,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.

In Crawford, Texas, near the ranch where President Bush is spending the month, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: “We expect every government not to harbor terrorists in their country and not to provide them with safe haven. And that’s what we call on the Iranian government to do as well. We want to be very clear to the Iranian government on that message.”

Iran says it has arrested and deported more than 100 people with suspected links to Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime and Al Qaeda. Sixteen of the suspects were handed over to Saudi Arabia.

“Iran’s policy is not to shelter Al Qaeda members and to prevent such people from entering the country,” Asefi said. “We have been fighting against terrorism from the start and are still pursuing this policy.”