Intelligence

Hijackers passed through Iran but no direct Tehran-9/11 connection: CIA

Yahoo! News - Hijackers passed through Iran but no direct Tehran-9/11 connection: CIA

Thu Jul 22, 2:19 PM
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Members of al-Qaeda, including some of the September 11 hijackers, passed through Iran but no connection has been made between Tehran and the attacks, a senior CIA (news - web sites) official said.

The CIA official, in a briefing for reporters on Wednesday, said eight of the eventual September 11 hijackers were among the members of al-Qaeda who had passed through Iran.

"We think it was because they had passports that the Iranians would not stamp for whatever reason," the official said.

"I don't think that we know that this was a deliberate Iranian policy, that is, a sanctioned policy at the highest levels of the Iranian government," the official added.

"It is clear that Iran has been on the state sponsor of terrorism list for a long time and deservedly so," the official said at the briefing ahead of the release of the report of the commission investigating the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

But, the official added, "We can't make any connection to 9/11 here..."

Asked about the relationship between Iran and al-Qaeda, the official said "like all intelligence issues there's some murkiness here.

"There have been al-Qaeda people who have stayed for some time in Iran and it's hard, and because they have been in touch with colleagues outside of Iran at times when operations have occurred, it's hard to imagine that they were unwitting of those operations.

"And it's not hard to make the leap that they may have had some at least operational knowledge. It's harder to make the leap that they were directing operations like that," the official said.

Noting Iran's hostility to the Taliban who ruled Afghanistan (news - web sites) pre-September 11 and sheltered al-Qaeda, the official said "in that period it's a little hard to see Iran as an ally of al-Qaeda."

"But it's a friendly neighborhood for terrorists to move through."

Compared to countries like Egypt, Jordan or Turkey, the official said Iran's "determination to go after (terrorists) is just not as robust."

In its report, the 9/11 Commission said Iran may have provided transit for at least eight of the men who carried out the September 11 attacks.

The commission quoted the captured 9/11 planner Ramzi bin al-Shibh as saying that at least eight hijackers transited Iran on their way to and from Afghanistan, "taking advantage of the Iranian practice of not stamping Saudi passports."

The report said circumstantial evidence suggested that senior operatives of the Iranian-supported group Hezbollah closely tracked the travel of some hijackers into Iran in November 2000. But it said this may just be coincidence.

"In sum, there is strong evidence that Iran facilitated the transit of al-Qaeda members into and out of Afghanistan before 9/11, and that some of these were future 9/11 hijackers," the report said.

But it added: "We found no evidence that Iran or Hezbollah was aware of the planning for what later became the 9/11 attack" by 19 men.

"At the time of their travel through Iran, the al-Qaeda operatives themselves were probably not aware of the specific details of their future operations."

The panel concluded that "we believe this topic requires further investigation by the US government."

President George W. Bush (news - web sites) has said the United States would continue to probe whether Iran played any role in the September 11 strikes.

July 22, 2004 at 09:11 PM in Al Qaeda | Permalink | TrackBack (1) | Top of page | Blog Home