US not aiming to hit Iran over Iraq role -Burns

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) The United States does not intend to strike Iran to force it to stop supplying Shi'ite groups with weapons technology to use against US troops in Iraq, a senior US official said.

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said in a radio interview broadcast yesterday that Washington believed tensions with Tehran could be resolved diplomatically, although ''all options are on the table concerning Iran.'' ''We've been very clear we don't intend to cross the border into Iran, we don't intend to strike into Iran, in terms of what we are doing in Iraq,'' Burns told NPR.

In a later interview with CNN, Burns reiterated that Washington was on a ''diplomatic track'' and had no intentions of launching military action against Iran.

''We believe that diplomacy can succeed and we don't believe that a military conflict is inevitable or even likely,'' he told CNN.

''The fact is that the United States is protecting its interests by detaining those Iranian paramilitary officials in Iraq because they are attacking our soldiers,'' he said.

The Bush administration has repeatedly warned Iran against fueling violence in Iraq, and US forces there have detained a number of Iranian officials in raids since December.

Iran, a majority Shi'ite country like Iraq, has demanded the release of the detained officials.

The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said last week the United States would present ''in the coming days'' evidence of the detained Iranians' involvement in violence. It has yet to make any evidence public.

'TECHNOLOGY TO TARGET AND KILL' ''We have picked up individuals who we believe are giving very sophisticated explosive technology to Shia insurgent groups, who then use that technology to target and kill American soldiers,'' Burns said on NPR.

Burns was asked about Iranian involvement in a January 20 attack in the southern city of Kerbala by guerrillas who posed as Americans and killed five US soldiers. He said the United States will ''try to find those who are responsible and hold them accountable. But right now it's not possible to say exactly who those people were.'' In the NPR interview, taped on Wednesday, Burns skirted the debate about Iran's nuclear program -- another source of tension in Iran-US relations.

''I think that if we're patient and we're skillful, we can have a diplomatic solution to these problems. We are trying for that diplomatic solution,'' he said.

On the increased US naval presence in the Gulf, he said the United States has ''defended Gulf security for six decades.'' The Iranians ''need to understand they can't come barging into a situation, and express what they want and seek a position of dominance, without some kind of reaction from the moderate Arab states and from the United States,'' Burns said.

''We're trying to convince the Iranians that it's in their best interest to sit down and talk with the United States. That is the basis of American policy.'' Reuters SBA VP0538