No Al-Qaeda militants in Iran

At a Tuesday press conference, official spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Hamid Reza Assefii denied the recent allegations by Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld on the presence of Al-Qaeda militants in Iran.

According to Assefii, Iran has no relation to that terrorist group and is resolved to fight any kind of extremist manifestations and groups.

In case Al-Qaeda members are discovered on the territory of Iran, Teheran will act in line with its program within the framework of the United Nations policy, stressed the Iranian Foreign Ministry's official spokesman.

"Earlier, we used to expel members of that group to countries of their citizenship", he said.

In the opinion of Assefii, Washington's erroneous anti-terrorist policy has led to a situation when the United States is trying to shift responsibility on other countries.

Hamid Reza Assefii rejected the accusations of Iran manufacturing biological and chemical weapons. These accusations were made by the anti-governmental opposition Mojaheddin-e Khalq organisation.

He also said that "even during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, Iran made no use of chemical or biological weapons, while weapons of this type were used against the Islamic Republic." Assefii reaffirmed Iran's adherence to the international treaties banning weapons of mass destruction.