thr 111                                                               


Iran-Afghans-Attack /POL/                                             


   Lari seeks global help to deal with possible Afghan floods        


Tehran, Sept 25, IRNA -- Iran's Interior Minister Abdulvahed          


Mousavi-Lari on Tuesday acknowledged that Iran cannot by itself afford


the consequences of a possible military attack on Afghanistan.        


    "In case the crisis intensifies and the Afghan refugees flock     


(toward Iran), the Islamic Republic would not be able to make         


arrangements for the refugees if it does not get any help from the    


international organizations," Lari told the third meeting of the      


coordinative council of aliens.                                       


    The council convenes interior, foreign, labor and health          


ministers, police chief, the secretary of the Supreme National        


Security Council, the head of the state Management and Planning       


Organization and the head of the Red Crescent Society. It has been    


set up to deal with the issue of Afghan refugees who may flock        


toward Iran if the United States launches a military attack on their  


country.                                                              


    Iran, already home to some 2.8 million Afghan refugees has sealed 


off its border. It has also set up voer 8 refugee camps in Afghan     


territory to handle the expected exodus.                              


    Thousands of Afghans, fearing U.S. military strikes against their 


country which Washington claims is sheltering Osama bin Laden, the    


"prime suspect" in the September 11 terror attacks against New York   


and Washington, have fled to the border regions with Iran and         


Pakistan.                                                             


    Interpol issued an arrest warrant for Osama bin Laden's right-hand


man at the request of Egyptian police authorities, the international  


police organisation said in a statement.                              


    Meanwhile, Iran's student news agency ISNA said some 248 Afghan   


refugees have been arrested in the border province of                 


Sistan-Baluchistan over the past two days.                            


    Iran has set up camps to house some 200,000 Afghan refugees now   


stranded in its border who have fled their country in anticipation of 


a U.S. attack on Afghanistan.                                         


    The UN has announced that a humanitarian crisis at Afghanistan's  


borders with Iran and Pakistan has already started and that food      


supplies are good only for a week.                                    


    Meanwhile, Iranian Red Crescent personnel in the upper border     


Khorassan have been put on a state of "full alertness" in anticipation


of a U.S. military strike against neighboring Afghanistan which       


harbors Bin Laden.                                                    


AK/AK                                                                 


End                                                                   


::irna    22:49