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mebbe so with CNN ... but AP is carrying a similar story ...

Politics - U. S. Congress

U.S. Lawmakers: Iran Rulers Should Leave

By WILLIAM C. MANN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The United States needs to have a more amenable government in Iran but must be careful how it removes the religious hard-liners now in power to avoid alienating the many Iranians friendly to America, lawmakers say.

Some also cautioned that even if Bush administration suspicions are correct that Iran is harboring senior al-Qaida operatives, the United States had better tread cautiously.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that Americans could expect good news soon from Iran, and it would be "very foolhardy" to try to destabilize Tehran in expectation of a surge in pro-Americanism there.

"I think we have to be a little bit cautious about ... tossing out that term `destabilize,' `take over,'" Rockefeller said on CNN's "Late Edition". "We're getting to think that way too much because of — after Afghanistan (news - web sites) and Iraq (news - web sites)."

Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record) of Delaware, ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, worried about taking on too much at once, citing the continuing instability in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I'd like to see us finish one job at a time," he told NBC's "Meet the Press."

In Tehran, Iran's foreign minister insisted his country does not and would not shelter al-Qaida terrorists and even has jailed some members of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s network, with plans to prosecute them.

"Iran has been the pioneer in fighting al-Qaida terrorists, who have been posing threats to our national interests," Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told the government's Tehran Television. "Iran was al-Qaida's enemy before the U.S."

The Washington Post reported Sunday that the administration has cut off contacts with Iran and "appears ready to embrace an aggressive policy of trying to destabilize the Iranian government."

"No, our policy continues to be the same," White House spokesman Scott McClellan replied. The United States insists that Iran stop supporting terrorists and end illicit weapons programs, he said, and "Iran knows what it needs to do."

"We don't have relations with Iran," McClellan said.

Worry about possible activities of senior al-Qaida operatives thought to be in Iran was a factor in raising the domestic terror alert level in the United States last week, officials have said. Those operatives are suspected of being connected to the recent bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco.

"There's no question but that there have been and are today senior al-Qaida leaders in Iran, and they are busy," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said last week.

Nonetheless, U.S. officials are finding ways of communicating with Iranian officials "on subjects that are important to us," the State Department said last week.

One issue is Iran's suspected development of nuclear weapons. Washington rejects Iran's contention that its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes.

Rep. Porter Goss (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Iran has shown some cooperation on terrorism, but not enough.

"The trick in Iran is this: The good guys are trying to bring some reform; the bad guys control the levers of power. Sorting the two apart and then isolating the bad guys and taking the levers of power away from them is what's got to happen," Goss, R-Fla., said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

"It's got to happen in a way that does not shut down the reformists or cause repercussions to the reformists. This is hard."

The United States has labeled Iran as an exporter of terrorism since Washington began drawing up such a list in 1979 — the year the Islamic republic was founded and then sponsored the seizure of the U.S. Embassy. Fifty-two Americans were held hostage for 444 days, and U.S.-Iran relations have remained severed.

Lawmakers who said they favor a new government in Iran did not advocate a military solution.

Rep. Jane Harman (news, bio, voting record) of California, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said she considered Iran "more of a clear and present danger than Iraq last year" but wants a diplomatic focus.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (news - web sites), D-Conn., a Democratic presidential hopeful who strongly backed the Iraq war, said that while "regime change" is the answer in Iran, he was not suggesting U.S. military action because of the pro-American attitudes of many Iranians.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., suggested on NBC that Americans might expect "better cooperation from Iran once the strong signal has gone out" that the United States will not accept weapons of mass destruction there.

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations (news - web sites), Javad Zarif, told ABC's "This Week" that his government was interested in easing tensions with the United States. "At the same time, if the United States only wants to speak through the language of pressure, then Iran will resist," he added.

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Associated Press writer Ali Akbar Dareini contributed to this report from Tehran.