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NICOSIA - Iran recruited Kenyans and Tanzanians for a terrorist "Islam Corps" based in Sudan, Iran's leading armed opposition group, the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), charged Sunday.
"People from different African nations, Kenya and Tanzania among them, were trained in the Islam Corps to carry out terrorist operations," the group said in a statement.
The Islam Corps was formed in southern Sudan in 1995 and is supervised by a committee known as the Quds Force, said the group, which last week charged Tehran was involved in the US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 257 people.
The NCRI also charged that Iran's national security council issued a confidential report in 1991 stating that Kenya and Tanzania were "virgin soil that offers us fertile ground" for new recruits.
"These two countries, especially Tanzania, could become a very good overseas base for the Islamic republic," the report said, according to NCRI.
Rafsanjani Comments About Anti-US Bombings, Agence France Presse, August 14
TEHRAN - In a fiery speech during weekly Friday prayers at Tehran University, former Iranian president Hasemi-Rafsanjani denounced accusations that Iran was behind the recent US embassy bombings as "lies."
"All the accusations made against Iran are lies... I call on the White House to listen to me, as a holy man, and to try to discover the true roots of terrorism," he said.
"Instead of offering a reward of two million dollars to find the attackers you should set a reward, of two million dollars or perhaps a Nobel prize, for whoever writes the best article on the causes of terrorist acts against the United States."
The US "must try to discover why, each time somebody wants justice, they attack the Americans," he said. "As a holy man I say this to the White House: look for the causes in your arrogant attitude and your political double-speak about terrorism.
Rafsanjani Warns of Economic Recession, Agence France Presse, August 14
TEHRAN - Iran's economy is threatened by a serious recession, former president Akbar Hasemi Rafsanjani said Friday during weekly prayers.
"Recession is a serious and dangerous problem, caused by the drop of billions of dollars in oil revenues. The recession will mean unemployment, stagnation in monetary movement and a drop in investments, and in the end will be an enormous obstacle to development," he said.
"When an economy undergoes recession nothing else moves forward, not even a debate about justice," he added, alluding to the ongoing power struggle between conservatives and those close to current president Mohammad Khatami.
"Factional quarrels" risk being "counterproductive" for all concerned, he added.
Iran has been facing an economic crisis because of a sharp drop in oil prices to around 10 dollars a barrel. This year it is expected to face a revenue shortfall of six billion dollars, or around a third of the budget.
Iran Accuses US, As Afghan Tensions Mount, Agence France Presse, August 16
TEHRAN - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami warned the Taliban militia in neighboring Afghanistan on Sunday it would not tolerate border tensions, amid charges the United States is backing the hardline Islamic group.
Earlier Sunday, the Taliban warned Tehran to give up its "interference," following a statement by former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who had said that Iran "will not tolerate instability and conspiracy along our borders."
But on Sunday deputy parliamentary speaker Hassan Ruhani also lashed out at the United States, saying "America wants to create a hotbed of tension along our eastern border in a bid to ensure its hegemony over the region's oil resources."
"The silence of American leaders and their media over the recent events in Afghanistan is a good sign of their blatant support" of the Taliban, said Ruhani, who is also secretary of the National Security Council, the highest political and decision-making body in Iran.
Iran also appeared to be on the brink of a diplomatic crisis with neighboring Pakistan over its accusations that Islamabad is backing the Taliban militia.
"Islamabad is playing a very dangerous game. If the Taliban take control of all of Afghanistan, it will be the start of misery for Pakistan," Ruhani said.
Ruhani also said that Iran "will rule out nothing in an effort to get our people released," referring to the Iranians it says the Taliban are holding in Afghanistan.