Representatives of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network contacted Iranian intelligence agents in the mid-1990s seeking to forge an alliance against the United States, the New York Times reported Monday. Citing still-classified US intelligence reports, the newspaper reported that a bin Laden ally sought out Iranian intelligence officers in Afghanistan in 1996, in the hope that Tehran would join forces to strike American targets.

That contact came after a visit to Iran in December 1995 by another bin Laden associate, according to the documents, obtained by the New York Times. Iranian intelligence agents reportedly responded that they were willing to meet personally with bin Laden in Afghanistan, but the daily said it was unclear whether such a meeting ever occurred.

Since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, the debate over whether bin Laden has received state support for terror has focused on Iraq. The secret intelligence reports however show that bin Laden and his allies were eager to turn to Iran, the Times wrote.
Bureau Report