Iran denies holding chief Al-Qaida spokesman

Iran was quick to deny a report today that it was holding a top al-Qaida official, but it acknowledged it had not yet identified all the members of Osama bin Laden’s terror group it has in custody.

The conflicting statements suggest Iran knows more than it is prepared to say at this stage.

Tehran may also be unsure how to respond to US claims it is harbouring terrorists and might be pursuing nuclear weapons.

The same accusations were levelled against Baghdad ahead of the war in Iraq.

The pan-Arab paper Asharq al-Awsat said today that Iran had arrested Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a Kuwaiti-born militant who appeared on an al-Qaida video in late 2001 warning Americans of a “storm of airplanes” and advising Muslims to avoid living in “high buildings or towers” in the US and Britain.

The Saudi-owned paper said its information came from unidentified Iranian and Kuwaiti sources. It did not say when or how Abu Ghaith was arrested.

Iranian Vice President Muhammad Ali Abtahi said he had no information that Abu Ghaith was in Iranian custody. The vice president is responsible for legal and parliamentary affairs.

“I categorically reject that Asharq al-Awsat report that Suleiman Abu Ghaith is in our custody,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.

Asefi reiterated that Iran still had not identified its al-Qaida detainees. But he did not explain how he was sure that Abu Ghaith was not among them.

“When we have not identified those al-Qaida in our custody, we cannot confirm the report,” he replied when pressed further.

Last week, US officials including Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused Iran of harbouring senior members of al-Qaida.

American officials have said intelligence reports suggest that al-Qaida operatives in Iran had a role in the Riyadh suicide bombings of May 12 that killed 25 bystanders, including two Britons.