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Asefi says alleged infiltration of US commandos into Iran a mere rumor

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 23, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamidreza Asefi 
said here Sunday that talk of US commandos having infiltrated Iran 
to carry out intelligence missions was "quite baseless." 
He made the remarks in his weekly press briefing and noted the 
Iranian Information minister had also rejected the rumor. 
Asked whether the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) 
had made a request to inspect Iran`s Parchin site for the second 
time, he said no such request had been made. 
He said there was no necessity for conducting the visit anyway. 
Responding to another question, Asefi said he had heard nothing 
of the crash of a spy satellite in Isfahan and said there were no 
news stories about it either. 
Asefi, talking to another reporter, disclosed that Iranian 
Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi would leave Tehran Thursday to take 
part in the Davos forum. 
He expressed regret over the fact that threats issued by the 
Zionist regime on Islamic and Arab states and the Palestinian nation 
have not been taken seriously by Islamic states. 
A reporter told the spokesman that world countries, including 
Iran, were taken by surprise by the recent remarks of the US 
president regarding Iran to which Asefi replied that it was the 
American officials, not Iran, who were taken by surprise by the 
remarks. 
He noted that even distinguished world figures and the 
international media rejected them. 
Answering another question on the issue of a legal regime for 
the Caspian Sea, he said that it would necessarily take time to set 
up such legal regime and to settle the issue. 
He explained that the Caspian Sea littoral countries have the 
right to conduct activities within their respective jurisdictions but 
that a consensus would have to be achieved to establish a legal 
regime as bilateral agreements were not valid. 
Pointing out that 20 percent of the sea`s coastline is within 
Iranian territory, he made it clear that Iran will not allow any 
state to conduct activities within its territorial waters before a 
legal regime is established. 
To a question on the participation of Iranian envoys in a meeting 
in the French parliament on the subject of Iran`s nuclear programs, 
he remarked that the session was held upon the French parliament`s 
initiative. 
A reporter asked the spokesman to comment on a bill purportedly 
presented by Britain`s foreign secretary to the House of Commons 
that would ban Britain from contributing to any military attack 
against Iran. 
Asefi said that the question could best be answered by the British
officials themselves, but nonetheless gave his opinion that the fact 
that Iran and Europe have agreed to build their relations on mutual 
respect removes the danger of any such attack. 
1424/2321/1432