WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran has agreed to help U.S. military personnel in the relatively unlikely event they end up in distress in Iran during operations in neighboring Afghanistan, a State Department official said on Tuesday.
``We indicated that if this event ... were to occur, we would be looking for this kind of reaction from them and they indicated 'Yes, that's fine','' said the senior official, who asked not to be named.
He was referring to a New York Times report that Iran showed willingness to help in a message sent on Oct. 8, in response to a message from the Bush administration the day before.
Iran and the United States usually communicate with each other through the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which represents U.S. interests there in the absence of diplomatic relations.
Another State Department official, who also asked not to be named, said the Iranian offer meant a fairly low level of cooperation with the United States in its war on the al Qaeda organization of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. ``They would do the same in the case of a shipwreck,'' he added.
Iran has criticized the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan and has not allowed U.S. planes to use its airspace. (Read photo caption below)
Iranian assistance could arise if, for example, a U.S. pilot in trouble had to make an emergency landing and did not want to land in territory controlled by the Taliban, who are also targets in the U.S. bombing campaign.
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker declined to discuss diplomatic contacts with Iran but said that a positive Iranian role in the U.S. campaign against terrorism would ''contribute to our goal of promoting peace and stability.''
``That said, the U.S. and Iran continue to have serious and long-standing policy differences with each other... Our policy toward Iran has not changed,'' he added.
The United States calls Iran a ``state sponsor of terrorism'' because of its support for Lebanese and Palestinian groups fighting Israeli occupation of Arab land. Iran says the groups are waging a legitimate struggle.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, addresses an official meeting in Tehran Monday Oct. 15, 2001 as Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, far left, former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, second left, Iran's Parliament speaker Mehdi Karrubi, right, and the head of Iran's Judiciary Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, second right, look on. Khamenei said Monday that the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan were "dragging the world into a war." A photo of Iran's late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini, is seen in background. (AP Photo)
- Oct 15 12:42 PM ET