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CNN Live Sunday

Iran Turns Over 16 Suspected al Qaeda Members to Saudi Arabia

Aired August 11, 2002 - 18:08   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Iran has turned over 16 suspected al Qaeda fighters to Saudi Arabia. The Saudis say they are interrogating the 16 and will share any information they get with the United States. CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has more on this development. Good afternoon, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Carol. Well, as the president's State of the Union address, when he called Iran a member of the "axis of evil" for allegedly sponsoring terrorism, it was today that Saudi officials said that Iran actually handed over 16 members of al Qaeda to Saudi Arabia in an effort to cooperate in the war on terror.

Now, the White House did not officially respond to this story while the president is vacationing here in Crawford, Texas, but Pentagon officials saw it as proof of what they had suspected all along, that al Qaeda had been crossing the border from Afghanistan into Iran, that Iran had been used really as a safe haven for terrorists.

Now, the Senate -- Senator Fred Thompson of the Senate Intelligence Committee actually downplayed this report and rather criticized Saudi Arabia, saying that it was taking advantage of this news. He said that it was reacting rather to a report that was released by an independent thinktank to an advisory board to the Pentagon recently, claiming that Saudi Arabia itself was an enemy to the United States, that that country in and of itself sponsored terror.

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SEN. FRED THOMPSON (R), TENNESSEE: Well, to learn from the Saudis that the Iranians and the Saudis are working together kind of off to the side and behind our back to our benefit -- let's just say I meet with a certain amount of skepticism. Some of our folks have been quite critical of the Saudis, and they're clearly trying to do things and point toward things that will ameliorate that.

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MALVEAUX: Now, administration officials say this is really a critical time for U.S.-Saudi relations, especially at a time when Saudi officials have said that they will not allow the United States to base troops there in that country in the event of attack on Iraq. They say that this is just another case where they are trying to repair the damage -- Carol. LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Suzanne Malveaux, for that live report.

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