WASHINGTON, 28 May 2003 — The United States yesterday called the arrests of suspected Al-Qaeda members in Iran an insufficient response to US demands for a crackdown, as the Bush administration put off a senior-level meeting on Iran policy.

“We continue to have concerns about Al-Qaeda being in Iran,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Asked how Iran had responded to US concerns including Al-Qaeda, Fleischer said “insufficiently.” He said the arrests of several suspected Al-Qaeda members announced by Iran on Monday did not quell concerns about the Al-Qaeda presence in Iran.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it did not know whether those under arrest were senior Al-Qaeda members.

US officials said they have intelligence suggesting senior Al-Qaeda members hiding in Iran had prior knowledge of the May 12 suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia in which 34 people, including seven Americans, were killed.

Fleischer said a meeting of senior administration officials to consider new ways to pressure Iran, which had previously been reported to be scheduled to take place yesterday, would not happen. “There is no meeting today,” he said.

One source familiar with the policy debate said there would be a higher-level “principles” meeting on the issue tomorrow at which top administration officials would consider ways to step up pressure on Iran. Another source confirmed there is going to be a meeting tomorrow but was not sure at what level.

“What we will be doing is looking at what our options are to try to get the Iranians to cooperate on Al-Qaeda in ways that they have in the past. If there’s an indication that we can’t expect that kind of cooperation again, then we’ll be looking at other options,” a US official said.

At his press briefing, Fleischer also scoffed at Tehran’s assertions that its nuclear program is exclusively designed for peaceful power-generating purposes.

“We continue to have concerns that a nation that is awash in gas and oil would seek to produce peaceful nuclear energy,” he said.

Fleischer alleged that Iran “flares off” — burns as a waste product — more natural gas than the electrical energy it would produce from nuclear reactors.

Tehran yesterday told Washington to stay out of its internal affairs. “We hope that wisdom and logic dominates the American debates and they refrain from carrying out any interference in our affairs,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi.

“Iran has always defended its interests with full power and will continue to do so. It won’t hesitate even for a fraction of a moment to defend itself,” he told Reuters without elaborating.

“The message Iran is hearing from Washington is: ‘We’re out to get you,’” said a Tehran analyst, who declined to be named.

It was not known what actions the Pentagon was proposing although some US officials have suggested Washington could provide backing for exiled opposition groups such as the Iraq-based People’s Mujahedeen militia and Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of Iran’s late Shah.

But diplomats in Tehran caution that the exiles enjoy little support among Iranians. “The assumption that Iran is a house of cards waiting to collapse is off base,” said one Asian diplomat.

Meanwhile, a top Senate Democrat cautioned the White House to tone down its rhetoric. “I don’t think we should be biting off more than we can chew right now,” said Sen. Joseph Biden, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Biden, in an NBC interview, said the White House should take a go-slow approach on Iran and first finish its military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We’ve got a long way to go there,” Biden said of Iraq.

Still, “We know they (Iranian leaders) are developing a nuclear weapons program,” Biden added. “They’ve been doing that for the last 10 years, although the International Atomic Energy Agency is in there.” Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.