"Americans say they will take no action against Iran and that they are ready to give any guarantee which Iran wants", the visiting Kurdish leader told reporters in Tehran in an effort to appease Iranian authorities’ fear of being the next on the American list of Middle East nations to be changed.

Talebani stressed that he was not carrying any written message from the Americans for Iranian officials, but hinted that the verbal message was from American sources he did not identify.

"Americans said Washington and Tehran have common interests and that Iraq had inflicted large damage on Iran and America would take no action against Iran in this crisis", the Kurdish leader said.

In an interview with the Persian service of Radio France Intrernationale (RFI), Mr. Talebani said in his view, the positions of Iran and the United States on Iraq have "converged" recently.

He said the Iranians are right to feel concerned about the future of Iraq, since this country is an important neighbour of Iran and any important developments there would affect Iran.

Talebani, who arrived in Tehran late Monday to discuss the ongoing situation in Iraq with Iranian officials, told IRNA that the US would certainly attack Iraq if Saddam did not voluntarily step down.

In the RFI interview, Mr. Talebani said Iran does not want to interfere with the Iraqi opposition, specially because that the main component of that opposition, meaning the Kurds, the Shi’a and the Arabs are friends of Iran and care to have good relations with Tehran.

He said from his talks with the Iranians officials, he has got the impression that Iran would play a positive role for the Iraqi opposition.

As Mr. Talebani was speaking to journalists, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Chairman of the Expediency Council was attacking both the United States and those among Iranians that "fear the empty might of America".

The former Iranian president was lashing out at Washington as informed sources would report on the teams he had dispatched to several European capitals to meet American officials.

In a speech on Tuesday, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the leader of the Islamic Republic, while denouncing American plans for Iraq, said Washington aims at occupying Iraqi oil wealth, control Iran and protect Israel.

However, he stopped short of reiterating his traditional opposition to the oncoming American attack on Baghdad.

During his four days visit, also met with several members of the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SAIRI) and agreed to go ahead with the scheduled meeting of Follow up and Co-ordination Committee of the Iraqi opposition in the Kurdish city of Erbil on 15 January.

The Committee, which was set up at the end of the meeting in London on December of 350 Iraqi delegates representing more than 50 groups and organisations opposed to Saddam Hoseyn, has the duty to coordinate the action of the Iraqi opposition in the one hand and the post-Saddam transitional government with foreign countries on the other.

Washington cut off all relations with Tehran and imposed economic sanctions on Iran after Iranian revolutionary students stormed the American embassy in Tehran and took 55 American diplomats as hostage for 444 days. ENDS TALEBANI TEHRAN VISIT 10103