President George W. Bush says the United States is trying to determine whether Iran was involved in the September 11th plot and accused the government of harbouring al-Qaeda leaders.
"We want to know all of the facts," Mr Bush said today when asked about reports that at least eight of the 19 hijackers passed through Iran before attacking the United States.
The commission investigating the attacks will detail links between al-Qaeda and Iran in its final report this week, raising new questions about why Mr Bush turned his focus to Iraq after September 11th, 2001. The commission has found more al-Qaeda contacts with Iran than with Iraq, officials said.
Mr Bush, at a meeting with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, quoted acting CIA director Mr John McLaughlin as saying "there was no direct connect between Iran and the attacks of September 11th."
The US intelligence community has been harshly criticised for overstating the Iraqi threat before the war, leading to calls for its overhaul and for the creation of an intelligence czar.
Mr Bush said the United States will continue to look into whether Iran was involved. "As to direct connections with September 11th, we're digging into the facts to determine if there was one."
Iran, branded like Iraq by Mr Bush as part of an "axis of evil" that threatens to fuel global terrorism, was "harbouring al-Qaeda leadership there," the president said. He urged Tehran to have them "turned over to their respective countries" of origin.
"If the Iranians would like to have better relations with the United States there are some things they must do," including halting the country's alleged nuclear weapons program and support for terrorism, he said.
The New York Timesreported on Sunday that the Iranian government had ordered its border guards not to stamp the passports of Saudi al-Qaeda members moving through Iran after training in Afghanistan.
An Iranian stamp could have made the al-Qaeda members subject to additional scrutiny upon entering the United States, US officials said.
Iran acknowledged some of the September 11th attackers may have passed through illegally, but said it had since tightened border controls. It said any attempts to tie the country to al-Qaeda, the militant network which carried out the attacks, were part of US election-year "news propaganda."