Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi was quoted by IRNA as saying: "The repetition of such baseless claims cannot be depicted as valid and credible."
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday al-Qaida leaders were operating from havens like Iran. Tehran has repeatedly rejected claims that it shelters members of the Islamist terror network. It has claimed to have arrested and expelled several hundred members of the group since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States.
But Western analysts believe Iran has both given sanctuary to some al-Qaida members fleeing the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and enabled others to move on to third countries, notably Ansar al-Islam, a Taliban-like group that seized a number of villages in northern Iraq until suppressed by U.S. forces during the Iraq war.
In March, Secretary of State Colin Powell, accusing Iran of supporting terrorism, said it was time for the international community to put pressure on Tehran to end its support of terrorist groups, including those that "are violently against Israel and the Middle East peace process."
He was understood to be referring to the militant Palestinian Islamist groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which Iran claims to give only political support.
Western analysts point out that whatever the degree of support may be for Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Iran, together with Syria, is the patron of the militant Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah. Hezbollah is widely credited with causing Israel in 2000 to pull out of a buffer zone it had created in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah did so by inflicting a politically unacceptable number of casualties on Israeli forces.
On Wednesday, White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice accused Iran of supporting terrorism and seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction. She said Iran's conduct was detrimental to U.S. interests and included a clandestine nuclear program.
According to Asefi: "The Islamic Republic of Iran, in keeping with its principles, is very serious and firm about the fight against terrorism and its nuclear activities," which he said "are very transparent and intended for peaceful intentions.
"America's selective and double standard policies in addition to its support for terrorism do not put it in a position to judge others," he said.
Asefi was apparently referring to what Iranian officials call "the U.S. unwavering support of Israel's state terrorism" as well as a recent cease-fire agreement between the American troops in Iraq and the Iranian armed opposition group, the Mujahedin-i-Khalq Organization.
The MKO has been outlawed in Iran since the early months after the Islamic Republic was set up in 1979. It is held responsible for a series of assassinations and bomb attacks. In 1986, Saddam Hussein gave it sanctuary in Iraq, from where it mounted cross-border attacks on the Iranian regime.
The group claims it has lost more than 100,000 of its members and supporters in attempts to topple Iran's clerical regime.
U.S. forces in Iraq have allowed the MKO there to keep its arms on condition that it desist from using them against Iran or to destabilize the situation in Iraq. Iran has demanded the extradition of MKO leaders.
The U.S. diplomatic attack on Iran's nuclear program came ahead of a report expected to be delivered in June by International Atomic Energy Agency Director Mohamed ElBaradei. There are reports that Washington was pressing the IAEA, as nuclear watchdog, to say Iran has committed violations of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
In February, Iran officially announced it had achieved the technology to process uranium needed for future nuclear power plants. Uranium is being mined in Saghand area, 120 miles from the central city of Yazd.
Moreover, Iran says its target is to reach a 6,000- to 7,000-megawatt capacity of nuclear-generated electricity in 20 years.
Critics of Iran say that with its abundance of oil and natural gas resources, it has no credible reason to turn to nuclear energy. Iran counters by saying it has a rising demand for energy and its hydrocarbon reserves are becoming overstretched.
With the help of Russia, Iran is building its first nuclear reactor near the southern port of Bushehr, which is expected to be commissioned by either late 2003 or early 2004.
The U.S. has repeatedly objected to Russia supplying Iran with sophisticated nuclear technology.
ElBaradei and a team of IAEA inspectors visited Iran in February and urged the Islamic republic to sign up to the so-called "Additional Protocol," which would oblige Iran to open its nuclear facilities to more intrusive U.N. inspections.
Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi responded to ElBaradei recently, when he announced in Geneva that Tehran was ready to sign the protocol but under certain conditions. Kharazzi would not say what the conditions were.
Copyright 2003 by United Press International.
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