"America has no choice but to blame another country for its failure in fighting terrorism and its failures in Afghanistan and Iraq," said former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a top adviser to Iran's most powerful figure Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Rafsanjani said some al-Qaeda members may have crossed Iran's border with neighboring Afghanistan unnoticed.

"Suppose it is true that eight of them passed through Iran, but is it a case against Iran? How many other countries have they passed on their way to America?" he said.

The U.S. commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks said in its final report July 22 that there was strong evidence Iran "facilitated the transit of al-Qaeda members into and out of Afghanistan before 9/11, and that some of these were future 9/11 hijackers."

The Japan Times Weekly: July 31, 2004
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