US backing terrorists - Iran
2007-10-29 09:35
Tehran - Iran has access to evidence of US support for terrorist groups in the Middle East, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying on Sunday.
Iran's new chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, made the allegation in comments to visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, whose country may soon send troops to hunt down Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq.
Tehran says the rebels are operating in Iraq with US forces present in the country and this shows Washington is refraining from tackling them.
Like Turkey, Iran also has faced cross-border attacks by
Kurdish rebels and has shelled targets inside Iraq in response.
"Escalation of terrorism in the region is one of the direct
results of the presence of occupiers in Iraq, particularly
America," Jalili, an ally of Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, said according to the country's state broadcaster.
"And there are documents and information available proving
America's support for terrorist groups in the region," he said,
without giving details. Jalili is also the new secretary of
Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
The United States often accuses Iran of backing and training
militias responsible for some of the bloodshed threatening to
tear Iraq apart. Tehran denies the charge and blames the
violence in Iraq on the presence of US forces.
The two countries are also locked in a stand-off over Tehran's nuclear programme, which Western powers suspect is aimed at developing bombs. Iran says it only wants to generate electricity.