Iran has rejected as "baseless" allegations that it was involved in a 1996 explosion in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 US servicemen and injured 500 more, reported the official Iranian news agency (IRNA).
A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) list of suspects that has reportedly been given to the White House is alleged to name Iranian government officials, said the BBC.online.
The New Yorker magazine reported on Monday that FBI Director Louis Freeh waited until former President Bill Clinton left office to hand the list over because he did not trust Clinton to pursue the matter.
The FBI declined to comment on the reports, telling the news service that it involved an "active case" that it was "aggressively pursuing."
In 1996, a tanker packed with explosives blew up outside the King Abdul Aziz Airbase, known as Khobar Towers, in Saudi Arabia.
The New Yorker reported that a suspect questioned in Saudi Arabia said an Iranian Revolutionary Guard official chose the target.
The official said he was acting on the orders of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the report claimed, cited by the BBC.
Iran's Foreign Ministry rejected the report on Wednesday as the work of "people worried because of the warming in relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia," said IRNA.
"These unsubstantiated claims are expressed by the opposition circles which are concerned over the improving relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. They are worried over the inking of a watershed security pact between Tehran and Riyadh which opened a new chapter in the Iran-Saudi Arabia relations", a source at the foreign ministry said.
He said those forwarding such unfounded rumors were trying to create tensions in the region and deal blows to the cordial relations among Islamic countries – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
