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American Morning

Interview of Javad Zarif, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister

Aired January 31, 2002 - 07:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is on the road today, taking his broad themes of Tuesday night's address directly to the American people. But there was another audience listening very carefully to the speech, as well.

Countries around the world were paying close attention to the president as he forcefully outlined where the war on terrorism would go next. Iraq, Iran and North Korea were all singled out by the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil arming to threaten the peace of the world by seeking weapons of mass destruction. These regimes pose a grave and growing danger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: ... has since responded by calling the speech "stupid." And North Korea called it a "loud mouthed threat." But what is Iran, the third member of the so-called axis, say in response to being named one of the world's most dangerous regimes and being accused of developing weapons of mass destruction?

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Javad Zarif joins us now from Tehran.

Thank you very much for joining us, sir.

We heard a little bit of what your government had to say yesterday, calling the speech amazing and saying, "We will not be threatened by such aggressive language."

What is it you think the president was communicating to Iran? Do you expect some kind of military action there?

JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER: Well, certainly what we heard from the president of the United States repeated a number of old allegations which have become cliches, almost, in statements which are coming out of Washington. And the arrogance that was associated with that statement was something that everybody felt.

But what was unexpected and, in fact, shocking was the fact that the president of the United States had such a short memory. He has forgotten the contribution that Iran has made to the fight against terrorism in the past several months, to replacing Taliban with the government, with the interim administration of Mr. Karzai, which we had a very instrumental role in bringing about and which we support.

So understanding that these statements do not represent reality, we should not be threatened by the language that he has used, particularly for the domestic audience and for certain lobbying and pressure groups in the United States whose interests have, unfortunately, overshadowed that of the United States.

ZAHN: So Mr. Zarif, are you denying this morning that Iran has provided safe haven for any al Qaeda members that got out of Afghanistan and fled to your country?

ZARIF: Well, certainly Iran immediately after the tragic incident of the 11th of September closed its border to Afghanistan and we have been watching and monitoring very closely the 800 to 900 kilometer border that we have with Afghanistan, as well as the border with Pakistan, which has traditionally been used for infiltration, for drug smuggling and for the massive influx of refugees.

We have made our best in order to prevent the infiltration of either Taliban or al Qaeda members and if any of them enter Iran, they are arrested and we will deal with them according to our obligations under international law.

This is the policy of the Iranian government. But more than that, there is no reason whatsoever that we should support or help any Taliban or al Qaeda people. Again, the memory should not be short. When the world was appeasing the Taliban, Iran was the only government that stood against the Taliban, warned the international community about the threats of the Taliban. We cannot change our mind overnight.

We have cooperated and contributed to the removal of Taliban from power and those who know the background of the story know what has happened in the past several months. So there is no truth to these allegations and these allegations are simply made in order to satisfy certain quarters.

ZAHN: So, sir, are you saying this morning that U.S. intelligence officials are lying when they tell the "New York Times" that, in fact, al Qaeda members have successfully made it through those borders you just talked to us about that are heavily patrolled and that they were arrested? None of them are there hiding in your country?

ZARIF: Well, I lost your voice, but I can say that we have received no information indicating that there are any al Qaeda members in Iran and the policy of the government is very clear, that if we receive any information or if we spot them ourselves, we would certainly arrest them.

ZAHN: Your response to the reports, also, in various newspapers that Iran has tried to create some instability in this new transitional government in Afghanistan? Do you deny that, too?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's not hearing you.

ZAHN: Obviously the deputy foreign minister, I think, is having trouble hearing us. I think the sound was going in and out there. We're going to try to bring him back as soon as the technical gods are with us here.

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