Iran detained and later handed over to Saudi Arabia 16 al Qaeda fighters who sought refuge in the Islamic republic after fleeing Afghanistan, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told The Washington Post in an interview published Sunday.

The prince said a group of Saudi officials traveled to Iran in May to question the 16 Saudi fighters from the al Qaeda network, which Washington blames for the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the newspaper reported.
"We asked (the Iranians) to hand them over and they did," the Post quoted the prince as saying. He said the al Qaeda members were transferred from Iran to Saudi Arabia in June.

Saud said Iran handed the fighters over to Saudi Arabia knowing that any intelligence gathered from interrogating them would be passed on to the United States.

"Iran has not only cooperated with Saudi Arabia in this conflict in Afghanistan but cooperated extensively with the United States," he said.

The newspaper said Saud suggested Iran also has worked directly with the United States to combat al Qaeda but declined to provide details.

"The U.S. and Iran can speak for themselves as to how much cooperation happened between the two countries," the Post quoted Saud as saying.

Branded as part of an "axis of evil" along with Iraq and North Korea by President Bush at the start of the year, Iran has strongly denied U.S. accusations that it was sheltering al Qaeda fighters who fled Afghanistan.

The newspaper said the al Qaeda members, who had been held in Iran along with four women and six children, were still in Saudi Arabia but added that officials declined to say whether the fighters were still in detention.

PHOTO CAPTION

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal speaks during the Arab Foreign Ministers meeting in Beirut, Lebanon on May 18, 2002. Iran detained and later handed over to Saudi Arabia 16 al Qaeda fighters who sought refuge in the Islamic republic after fleeing Afghanistan, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told The Washington Post in an interview published Sunday. (AP Photo)