US contemplating new moves against Iran

Washington was reported to be turning up the heat on Iran yesterday after saying that al Qaeda was operating out of the Islamic republic, and Iran said it had arrested several members of the extremist group.

The Washington Post reported the White House appeared "ready to embrace an aggressive policy of trying to destabilise the Iranian government" at a meeting of senior officials on Tuesday. White House officials declined to comment or to confirm such a meeting was planned.

The newspaper said Pentagon officials want action that could lead to the toppling of the government through a popular uprising. It said some State Department officials opposed this, saying the level of public discontent was being overestimated.

The report, coupled with a decision to cut off recent promising contacts with Tehran, followed intelligence reports suggesting al Qaeda operatives in Iran played a role in the May 12 suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia. US officials pointed to intercepted communications suggesting a small cell of al Qaeda in Iran directed the bombings in which 34 people, including eight Americans, died.

The State Department last week told Iran to crack down on suspected al Qaeda members operating in the country. The United States canceled plans to meet Iranian officials in Geneva last Wednesday in protest.

President George W. Bush, weeks after toppling President Saddam Hussein in Iraq, has made clear he hopes for major changes in the region to halt what the United States calls terrorism against US interests and allies, including Israel.

US lawmakers, appearing on television talk shows, largely backed the idea of working to destabilize the Tehran government, but stopping short of military action.

"It would be in the interest of the world and most particularly of the Iranian people to have a regime change in Iran," US Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, a Democratic presidential hopeful, told "Fox News Sunday."