BUT, here's a link to an alternate source without a registration requirement... The Sydney MOrning Herald. Presumable this hybrid of MT Times and LA Times articles has the relevent info:
US, Iran hold back channel talks, AFP, Wednesday, 21 May , 2003, 19:10
Tehran: Iran and the United States are holding back channel talks on Afghanistan, Iraq and the al-Qaeda terror network, a leading Iranian parliamentary official said Wednesday. Elaheh Koulaie, rapporteur for parliament's National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee, said Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi informed the panel on Tuesday of the agenda, the state news agency IRNA reported.
Also up for discussion was the Iraq-based Iranian opposition group, the People's Mujahedeen, she said, while also making the first official Iranian reference to talks with the US on al-Qaeda.
"The messages passed between the two parties were not only fruitful and positive, they also helped to overcome skepticism," Koulaie quoted Kharazi as telling the committee.
A UN spokeswoman in Geneva said on May 13 that Iran and the United States, which cut diplomatic relations 23 years ago, were holding behind-the-scenes talks in the "Geneva Group". The forum was set up under the UN framework in 2000 to coordinate and discuss issues linked to the US-led war on Afghanistan. It also includes representatives from Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Russia and Uzbekistan.
Successful US-Iranian discussions on Afghanistan were seen by some reformists in Iran as an opportunity to improve ties with the United States. US officials have also confirmed that the two sides have held several meetings on the Iraq crisis and Afghanistan in Geneva, the most recent one reportedly in early May. However, they have stressed that the issue of restoring diplomatic relations is not on the table.
"The question of bilateral relations has never been raised. As long as the conditions for re-establishing relations do not exist, Iran's position will remain the same," government spokesman Abdullah Ramezandadeh said Tuesday. "At the current time, Iran does not need relations with the United States," he said, quoted by IRNA.
On Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested that al-Qaeda terrorists allegedly based in Iran had a role in the May 12 suicide attacks in the Saudi capital that killed 34 people. Rumsfeld did not accuse Iran of involvement in the attacks on the foreign housing compounds but said his information came from intelligence reports.