Baku, May 30: Azerbaijan today dismissed a Russian newspaper report that the United States has cut a deal to use the Caucasus republic as a launch pad for military action against Iran. "The reports about an agreement between the Pentagon and the Azeri government to base US troops in Azerbaijan are without basis in fact," Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliyev was quoted as saying by Azertaj, the state news agency.

"Azerbaijan cooperates closely with the US but that cooperation does not include stationing US troops on Azeri soil."

The report was "an invention," he said, adding: "This sort of disinformation is orchestrated by certain political forces and only serves to complicate an already difficult situation in the region."

The Russian daily 'Nezavisimaya Gazeta' reported yesterday that the Pentagon had ready a plan for military action against Iran, including a deal to station troops in Azerbaijan and neighbouring Georgia.

"The military action is designed to complete a popular uprising on which the Pentagon is counting," said the paper, adding that the operation's launch date would be decided at a meeting to be held this week in the White House.

The newspaper report speculated that the main thrust of any US military action against Iran would be launched from Iraq, but that the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Georgia would also be used.

Bureau Report