Tehran denies US claims of Al Qaeda leaders living in Iran

Treasury sanctions on three extremists

TEHRAN // Iran yesterday denied claims by Washington that three senior Al Qaeda figures were in the country. The US last week announced sanctions on the three men, saying they were Al Qaeda members based in Iran.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has no information about the presence of these people on its own soil,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said. Mr Qassemi reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to fighting terrorism. The three – Saudi Arabian Faisal Al Khalidi, Egyptian Yisra Bayumi and Algerian Abu Bakr Ghumayn – were identified as “specially designated global terrorists”.

The US treasury has accused them of liaising between the Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda, and sending funds to Al Qaeda fighters in Syria.

The sanctions froze any assets they might have in US jurisdictions and barred Americans from doing business with them.

The US says Al Khalidi is an Al Qaeda military commission chief and a former battalion commander.

Bayumi is the group’s liaison with Iranian authorities and Ghumayn is in charge of Al Qa- eda members who are living in Iran, the treasury said. Mr Ghasemi urged the US to share its “precise information” about the three to “better combat terrorism”.

Iran considers Al Qaeda a terrorist group and Iranian security forces periodically report the arrest of its members.

It has held several Al Qaeda members of various ranks since the September 11 attack on New York and Washington in 2001.

In June, Iran announced it had broken up one of its “biggest terrorist plots” by extremists who were planning bombings in Tehran and elsewhere.