Iran on Friday denied U.S. claims that it shelters members of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network and seeks to develop weapons of mass destruction. The denial followed the assertion a day earlier by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that U.S. authorities believe there are senior al-Qaida leaders in Iran. “The repetition of such baseless claims (concerning al-Qaida) cannot portray them as valid and credible,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. U.S. officials have said at least three al-Qaida leaders are in Iran: Saif al-Adil, bin Laden’s security and intelligence chief; Saad bin Laden, Osama’s son; and Abu Hafs the Mauritanian, a religious scholar. Full Story