WASHINGTON, Aug 2: The Bush administration is holding secret talks with Iran to try to persuade Tehran to hand over three top Al Qaeda men, NBC News reported on Friday.

The television network identified the three as among the most wanted members of Al Qaeda.

One of them, Abu Mussab al Zarqawi, is an alleged poison expert who got medical treatment in Iraq.

The other, Sa’ad bin Laden, is Osama bin Laden’s third-oldest son who is believed to be planning new Al Qaeda operations.

The third, Suleiman Abu Ghaith, is the Al Qaeda spokesman famous for introducing bin Laden in widely seen videotape after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Many US officials believe that Iran is willing to turn them and other key Al Qaeda operatives over to the United States or their home countries, the report said.

But in return for this favour, the Iranians want the United States to help them catch some prominent members of an Iranian opposition group, the Mujahideen al-Khalq, or MEK.

The MEK has been attacking Iran’s Islamic government from Iraq and is now under US military control there.

The US State Department also recognizes the MEK as a terrorist outfit.

A former member of President Bush’s national security team told NBC News that the administration was reluctant to publicly engage a country President Bush had been terming part of the ‘axis of evil’.

The official, identified as Flynt Leverett, said: “It’s worth handing Iran the MEK in return for the Al Qaeda operatives.