thr 008                                                               


Terrorism-Japan-Iran /POL/                                            


   Japan may provide financial aid to Iran via UNHCR: Kyodo          


Tokyo, Sept 29, IRNA -- Japan is considering giving financial aid to  


Iran through international organizations to help the country handle   


the expected influx of refugees in the event of a U.S. military       


strike on neighboring Afghanistan, the Kyodo news agency reported     


Saturday.                                                             


     Citing a senior Japanese foreign ministry official, the          


agency said, "Tokyo will make a decision after receiving a report from


former foreign minister Masahiko Komura, who is to visit Iran and     


Saudi Arabia from Sunday as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's special


emissary."                                                            


    The ministry believes Iranian support is necessary in case of     


a U.S. military action in the region because Iran is a leading        


nation in the Islamic world, the agency said.                         


    "Although we are not considering dispatching self-defense forces  


(to Iran) at this moment, providing financial aid through the office  


of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a possibility," 


the official said.                                                    


    Afghanistan, an extremely poor country, has experienced two       


decades of war that has seen numerous refugees crossing over into     


neighboring Iran.                                                     


    Japan will send former foreign minister Masahiko Komura as a      


special envoy of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to Tehran on Tuesday


to seek Iran's backing of an international campaign against terrorism,


top government spokesman Yasuo Fukuda said in a news conference on    


Friday.                                                               


    Komura will hand over a message from Koizumi to Iranian President 


Mohammad Khatami during his visit to Iran as part of a six-day tour of


the Middle East to drum support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism     


starting next Sunday. The trip will also take the envoy to Saudi      


Arabia, Fukuda said, adding that he will also carry a similar message 


for Saudi Arabia's King Fahd.                                         


    The diplomatic shuttle takes place as the United States is        


on an intensive search for militant Saudi-born fugitive Osama bin     


Laden, believed to be hiding in Afghanistan, and his network of       


terrorist groups which America suspects of being behind the           


devastating September 11 attacks on U.S. trade and defense centers.   


    The United Nations has announced that a humanitarian crisis of    


alarming proportions at Afghanistan's borders with Iran and Pakistan  


has already started and that food supplies are good only for a week.  


    Iran has announced it has set up eight 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.                                     


AK/LS                                                                 


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::irna    10:53