A Congressional panel investigating the US intelligence organs readiness before the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington will show new evidence on Thursday that the Islamic government facilitated passage of at least eight hijackers to Afghanistan by not stamping their passports. The foreign ministry spokesman on Sunday denied the allegation, which appeared on Saturday in the US media. July 18, 2004 - The final report of the Senate commission investigating the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, will include new evidence that shows Iranian passport officials had orders not to stamp the passports of al-Qaeda members passing through Iran on their way to training camps in Afghanistan, Newsweek reported on Saturday, quoting unnamed sources.
The evidence suggests that Iran provided eight of the hijackers involved in the 9/11 attacks with safe passage in the year before the attacks, according to unnamed government officials, who added that there is no evidence that the Islamic government was aware of al-Qaeda plans to attack New York and Washington or sanctioned it.
The US officials said as many as 10 of the hijackers would have benefited from the policy, which allowed them to enter the US without an Iranian passport stamp, which could have elicited scrutiny.
Iran on Sunday dismissed the report. Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said it was “fabricated.”
“We have very long borders and it is impossible to totally control them. It is normal that several people could pass our borders illegally without being found by us,” he said, comparing Iran’s porous border with Afghanistan to US border with Mexico. He denied any links between Iran and the September 11 attacks, and added that Iran has been fighting terrorism within its own borders since the 1979 revolution.
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