Iran not Axis of Evil, argues Pretoria

South Africa on Thursday disagreed with the United States that Iran formed part of an "axis of evil" in the context of the US-led war against terrorism.

"It is really not correct that Iran supports the Taliban or al-Qaeda," Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told reporters in Pretoria.

"They have actually been against the activities of the Taliban and al-Qaeda." In his State of the Union address last week, US President George W Bush, argued that Iran, Iraq and North Korea and their "terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil."

Washington also accused Iran of helping al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters to flee from Afghanistan.

On Thursday, Dlamini-Zuma described the US view as a misunderstanding of the real situation. "Iran has long before September 11 been fighting in the forefront against the Taliban. They have lost a lot of civilians in their fight against drug-trafficking from the side of the Taliban," she said.

Dlamini-Zuma was speaking on her return from Tehran, where she attended the sixth session of the joint commission between South Africa and Iran.

Asked if South Africa's close links with Iran might not adversely affect its ties with the US, Dlamini-Zuma said: "Our relations with the rest of the world are not determined by the US."