"Iran helped Osama taking his rather large family and senior members of his terrorist organisation out of Afghanistan from the very start of American (military) intervention against al-Qa’eda", the source told Iran Press Service on condition of anonymity.

Senior Iranian spokesmen for both the Government and the Foreign Affairs Ministry categorically denied the presence of al-Qa’eda or Taleban terrorists in Iran, but the fact is that the office of the leader never informs the government of the powerless President Mohammad Khatami about sensitive decisions it takes, like the assistance and logistics a special branch of the Revolutionary Guards provides to terrorist groups of the kind of al-Qa’eda, the Lebanese Hezbollah or Palestinians opposed to peace with Israel.

"Mr. Asefi or Ramezanzadeh do not know about these matters more than any ordinary Iranian", the pointed out, referring to the systematic denials by the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Government official spokesmen of information concerning Iran’s relations with terrorist organisations.

"After being kept in safe houses in Mashhad (the capital city of the north-eastern province of Khorasan which has a large border with Afghanistan) for sometimes, they were transferred to Tehran and placed in a hotel, managed by the Revolutionary Guards in the posh Abbas Abad district" the source said.

But because the presence of such a large Arab-speaking community ostensibly attracted the curiosity of the neighbourhood not accustomed to foreign presence, especially Arabs, -- whom Iranians do not like much – the authorities moved them to Hamadan, (in the west), "out of curious eyes".

"The transfer of the group to Hamadan also coincided with the second wave of American Administration’s accusations that al-Qa’eda people were still in Iran", the source explained.

However, the family would receive the visit of wealthy Arabs from the oil-rich emirates of the Persian Gulf and even Saudi Arabia, giving them money and necessary documents to travel to other countries, according to this source.

According to the source, Osama, who is diabetic, also came personally to Tehran to undergo dialysis, but returned to Afghanistan after medical check up.

"He is helped by (former Afghan Prime Minister and CIA and ISI informer) Golbodin Hekmatyar and Esma’il Khan, the Iranian-backed Emir of Heart, whom Iran had asked to assist the terrorist mastermind", this source further said in his lengthy meeting with IPS.

Iran sought the help of Iraq for the transfer of al Qa’eda and Taleban people out of the country, after the American leaked more report on their presence in Iran, the source said, adding that this was discussed during the secret visit to the Iraqi capital by Mrs. Fa’ezeh Hashemi, the younger daughter of the former president, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

As a female MM (Member of the Majles) and owner of a successful newspaper named "Zan" (Woman), Mrs. Hashemi, with her aggressive speeches, modern, dynamic living style, would irritate conservative mullahs and lawmakers in the past Majles which was dominated by the conservatives.

Eventually, her newspaper was shut on April 1999 on order of the Judiciary after publishing a New Year message from Ms. Farah Pahlavi-Diba, the former Iranian Empress.

Mr. Jalal Talebani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two main Kurdish groups that, since the end of the Gulf War, controls most parts of the Iraqi Kurdistan under US-British air protection, confirmed that some 120 to 150 "Afghani-Arabs", are living in areas between Iranian and Iraqi borders controlled by Baghdad and a radical Islamist group known as "Ansar al Eslam" (Friends of Islam).

"The group, which has links with Saddam, is busy with terrorist activities", Mr. Talabani said, stopping short of describing the kind of terrorist activities the group is engaged in.

"The al-Qa’eda members extradited to Saudi Arabia were either sick or disabled", the source said, referring to the16 terrorists the Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Saud al Faysal said Iran had handed over to his country.

Mr. Al-Faysal made the disclosure during an interview with "The Washington Post", describing the gesture as a sign of Iran’s readiness to co-operate with both the United States and Saudi Arabia fighting international terrorism.