The switch in policy came after the administration was alarmed by intelligence suggesting that al-Qaeda operatives in Iran had a role in the May 12 suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia, in which eight Americans were killed, although Tehran has rejected the US allegations.

According to the newspaper, senior US officials will meet on Tuesday at the White House to discuss the evolving strategy toward Iran, with Pentagon officials pressing hard for public and private actions that they believe could lead to the toppling of the Iranian government through a popular uprising.

The State Department, widely believed to be often at odds with the Pentagon on foreign policy issues, had encouraged some form of engagement with the Iranians in the past and now inclined to accept such a policy, especially if Tehran does not take any visible steps to deal with the suspected al-Qaeda operatives before Tuesday.

But officials from the State Department are concerned that the level of popular discontent there is much lower than Pentagon officials believe, leading to the possibility that US efforts could ultimately discredit those who Washington believes to be reformers in Iran.

In any case, the Saudi Arabia bombings have ended the tentative signs of engagement between Iran and the United States that had emerged during the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq when Tehran was perceived as relatively cooperative.

(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2003)