But US President George W. Bush insisted on Thursday he was not waging war with Arabs or Islam, seeking support for punishment of Bin Laden from nations with large Muslim populations. The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself. Moussa warned that mismanagement of the crisis could unleash disaster. A senior Iranian cleric said yesterday a US strike against Afghanistan would fail to bring to justice those behind last week's attacks on the United States. There is no building in Afghanistan worth a missile.
Terrorism is inherently contemptible and is condemned by all.
Iran, already host to 1.5 million Afghan refugees, fears there would be a new flood of refugees if the United States were to attack Afghanistan for harbouring Bin Laden. Iran said on Thursday it would not allow US warplanes to use its airspace to attack Afghanistan, reiterating the Islamic republic's neutrality in any conflict. It has launched a diplomatic drive to head off US military strikes on Afghanistan and Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi has telephoned European and Asian counterparts to urge restraint. But there are clearly limits to how far and how fast that might be achieved. Analysts say Iran would most likely maintain a vigilant neutrality in any conflict between two of its arch-foes, the United States and Afghanistan's ruling Taleban.