WASHINGTON -- The United States has urged Tehran to stop supporting al-Qaida operatives who it says are working out of Iran, officials said Wednesday.
The demand follows media reports the United States also has broken off secret talks with Iran in Geneva.
"We have made clear to Iran that we believe that al-Qaeda operatives are working out of Iran and Iran needs to meet its international responsibilities," a State Department official told United Press International.
Under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1373, the official said, all countries are required to "deny safe haven to those who plan, support or commit terrorist acts."
The resolution also requires them "to take steps to prevent the commission of terrorist acts by providing early warning to other states by exchange of information," the official said.
The official said the United States continues to have long-standing policy differences with Iran.
"Our concerns include Iran's ongoing support for terrorism, its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, its opposition to the Middle East peace process and its poor human rights records," he said.
Commenting on media reports the United States had broken off Geneva talks with Iran, the official referred to a statement by President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, which said: "Talks to Tehran grew directly out of needing to deal with some practical matters dealing with Afghanistan ... and then were extended to Iraq ... this is not somehow an opening to diplomatic relations."
Media reports have said the dialogue with Iran were called off after U.S. intelligence reported that Tehran was harboring al-Qaida leaders who planned last week's suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia.
Iran has denied sheltering al-Qaida operatives and has described the U.S. allegation as a campaign to malign Tehran without any basis. But on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld rejected Iran's denial and said it was hiding al-Qaida leaders besides those responsible for the Riyadh attacks that killed 34 people.
"Countries that are harboring those terrorist networks and providing a haven for them are behaving as terrorists by so doing," he told a Pentagon briefing.
Soon after Rumsfeld renewed his attacks on Iran, officials in Washington said the United States was breaking off the unofficial dialogue.
These talks began last month after the fall of the Saddam Hussein government in Iraq when U.S. officials said they fear Iran's influence over Iraq's Shiite majority. At the time, Rumsfeld said he was deploying U.S. troops along the Iran-Iraq border to prevent Iranian militants from entering the Arab country.
But following their initial contacts in Geneva, U.S. officials indicated Iran had promised not to interfere in Iraq. Iran also issued a directive, urging its citizens not to visit Iraq until the situation returns to normal.
But after last week's suicide attacks in Riyadh, U.S. officials went back to calling Iran a part of the "axis of evil," a term coined by President George W. Bush to describe Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
U.S. intelligence officials are now telling reporters the bombings in Riyadh were planned by al-Qaida leaders in Iran. These allegedly include Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian CIA regards as al-Qaida's current No. 3 leader.
Saudi officials have added to the speculation he may have planned the Riyadh bombings. But so far neither the Saudis nor the Americans have offered any evidence to show he is in Iran or that he indeed planned the attacks in Riyadh.
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