US asks Iran to hand over al-Qaeda suspects

The United States has asked Iran to hand over al-Qaeda members operating in its territory, the New York Times reported yesterday.

The request came in a message sent shortly after the May 12 suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia, and after US officials reviewed intelligence indications that Iran-based al-Qaeda operatives were involved in the attacks, the Times said.

"We passed them a message instead of meeting them face to face. The message was that this al-Qaeda link is very serious," an unnamed senior US official was quoted as saying.

"We and others concerned about the Saudi bombings have made clear that Iran needs to cooperate with the Saudi investigation, and there's no reason to allow al-Qaeda on Iranian territory," the official said.

But not all US intelligence analysts agree that the eavesdropped conversations out of Iran clearly establish "a link to the Saudi bombings or the Iranian regime," another official told The Times.

The triple suicide attacks in Riyadh killed 34 people, including nine suicide bombers.

Iran's UN ambassador Sunday renewed his nation's insistence it is cooperating in the war on terrorism, amid discussion of possible US moves against the Islamic regime in Tehran.

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations Javad Zarif pointed to detentions of several al-Qaeda members as proof Tehran is not sheltering members of the Islamist extremist group as Washington claims.