TEHRAN, May 8: The head of Iran’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee has said Iran, contrary to official denials, has been holding secret talks with arch-enemy the United States, the official IRNA news agency said on Wednesday.

Many Iranian reformists have called for negotiations with Washington to ward off possible US action against the Islamic Republic, which President George W. Bush has called part of an “axis of evil”.

“About the behind-the-scenes negotiations with American officials, contrary to what Iran’s Foreign Ministry has announced, I have information that these negotiations were carried out,” the agency quoted Mohsen Mirdamadi as saying.

Mirdamadi, a leading reformist parliamentarian allied to President Mohammad Khatami and himself a former US hostage- taker, said a consensus should be reached on Iran’s stance on negotiations if Tehran were not to lose out.

The claim came in direct contradiction of a Foreign Ministry denial this week of persistent rumours in Iranian political circles that Tehran officials had been holding secret talks with US counterparts in Switzerland and Cyprus.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, last week ruled out talks with the United States. “No, negotiations will not solve any problem,” he told a meeting of teachers.

While government spokesmen deny there had been any official negotiations, they have declined to rule out unofficial contacts. A US official in Washington said on Wednesday he could not confirm whether the two countries had held talks.

Analysts said that while any contacts may have been tentative, and even unsuccessful, an important milestone had been passed.

“The bullet has been shot and nobody can stop it now,” said one analyst who declined to be named. “But the US-Iran issue is very complicated and solving it could take a long time.”

BAD BLOOD: The bad blood between the two has lasted more than 20 years. Washington cut ties with Iran in 1980 after radical students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and seized dozens of diplomats and held them hostage for 444 days.

The hostage crisis helped consolidate the fledgling Islamic revolution which toppled the US-backed shah and ended decades of Washington’s powerful influence in Iran.

Washington subjects Iran to sanctions which hurt its vital oil industry and accuses Tehran of sponsoring terrorism and developing weapons of mass destruction — charges Iran denies.

Meanwhile Khamenei last week accused the United States of ‘‘bullying” and seeking a monopoly of world power.

Hatred for the “Great Satan” is an article of faith for Iranian conservatives who ritually chant “Death to America” at prayers and demonstrations across the country.

Neither they nor their political rivals in the reformist camp want to be seen to be the ones to break the taboo of reaching out to the world’s last remaining superpower. Each side says it was the other who started talks.

The official Iran newspaper, controlled by the reformist government, said a six-member committee was set up, including one of Khamenei’s relatives, to look into US ties. But Iran’s supreme national security council has denied the report.

TALKS BEFORE SEPT 11: Diplomats say bilateral talks began before the Sept 11 attacks against American cities, on the sidelines of meetings of the “six-plus-two” group of countries, where Iranian and US officials sat face-to-face to discuss the fate of Afghanistan.

Newspapers said talks continued with a group of Iranian political figures meeting a pair of US senators in Cyprus, a report again denied by the security council.

“The conservatives took the initiative to start talks with the Americans, but the Americans don’t want to start negotiations with any specific Iranian faction, they only want officials,” said a reformist analyst close to the government.

Iran gained US goodwill in the wake of Sept 11 when Khatami was swift to condemn the suicide attacks on American cities.

But optimism on both sides that a new chapter in relations could be opened quickly faded after Khamenei bluntly refused any help to the US-led campaign in Afghanistan.

US official: A US official said on Wednesday he could not confirm whether the United States and Iran had held secret talks but said it was public knowledge that their officials talk in international forums about Afghanistan.

“We deal with the Iranians in several multilateral fora, centering on Afghanistan,” said US National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack. “The last one of those multilateral meetings was April 8 in Geneva. Certainly we have an authorized dialogue in these fora and that’s a well-known public fact.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, last week ruled out talks with the United States. “No, negotiations will not solve any problem,” he told a meeting of teachers.

An Iranian government spokesman denied there had been any official talks. “The government and people related to the government did not carry out any negotiations with the Americans.”—Reuters