- LONDON (Reuters) - Senior Iraqi and Iranian intelligence officials met recently
to forge a pact in the face of the growing threat of U.S.-led military
action against Baghdad, Britain's Times newspaper said Thursday.
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- The Times quoted Western intelligence
sources as saying Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's youngest son Qusay Hussein
met Iran's intelligence minister, Qorbanali Dorri Najafabadi, on Feb. 5
at al-Shalamja in Iraq, just inside the border with Iran.
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- ``The meeting has provided the most dramatic
evidence that the two old enemies are developing new contacts,'' The Times
said. Qusay, who is responsible for security in Iraq, was accompanied by
Iraq's head of intelligence, Rafia Daham al-Takriti, the newspaper said.
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- It added that Iraqi Foreign Minister
Mohammad al-Sahaf visited Tehran late last month, when he was thought to
have signed a memorandum of understanding which was approved by Iranian
President Mohammad Khatami and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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- ``The result of these meetings is that
there is now believed to be a direct channel of communication between the
heads of the Iraqi and Iranian intelligence services,'' The Times said.
Tehran has repeatedly called for a diplomatic solution of the crisis and
expressed opposition to the presence of U.S. and other Western forces in
the region. It opposes military strikes against Baghdad.
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- But Iran has also said Iraq, its foe
in an eight-year war that ended in 1988, must comply with U.N. Security
Council resolutions on arms inspections.
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