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US intelligence service unable to understand Iran's internal affairs: Younesi

 Shahr-e Kord, Aug 8, IRNA -- Information (Intelligence) Minister Ali  
Younesi said here Thursday that the weakness of the US intelligence   
service (CIA) will be evident while considering its inability to      
understand Iran's internal affairs.                                   
     Younesi made the remarks in his talks with reporters during his  
one-day visit to the southwestern province of Chaharmahal and         
Bakhtiyari.                                                           
    Pointing to news on the deployment of more US spies in the region,
he said, they need no new spies regarding the presence of the         
terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO).                         
    Asked about US threats to attack Iran, he said, such measures were
only possible in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq which did not 
have a popular government.                                            
    Several allegations raised by the United States against Iran on   
possession of weapons of mass destruction are meaningless because as  
senior Iranian officials have repeatedly announced this is religiously
prohibited, the minister added.                                       
    They (the Americans) accused Iran of support for terrorist groups 
while the major world terrorist group, MKO, who had committed         
massacres of Iranian people are currently under the protection of the 
United States, he said.                                               
    He also rejected news on exchange of al-Qaeda members who are     
detained in Iran with members of the MKO arrested in Europe and said, 
the arrested al-Qaeda members will be tried in Iran and their trial   
will have its natural course.                                         
    Iran's intelligence service is powerful and the country pays lower
costs whenever the professional and experts proposals and ideas of the
Ministry of Information are taken into consideration, he said.        
    Touching upon the case of Zahra Kazemi, the Iranian freelance     
photojournalist, he said, the Intelligence Ministry asks for free     
and transparent investigation of the case and is ready to have        
all-out cooperation to this effect.                                   
    He also congratulated the `Journalists Day' and paid tribute to   
IRNA correspondent, Mahmoud Saremi, who attained martyrdom along with 
eight Iranian diplomats on August 8, 1998 in Afghanistan.             
SF/210                                                                
End