Douglas Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy, said the People's Mujahideen, or MEK, was listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department and "we are treating it as such."

His assurance follows numerous reports of a debate within the administration over whether to mount a campaign to bring down the Iranian regime, possibly using the MEK as it did the Northern Alliance to help bring down the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Feith acknowledged that a temporary cease-fire worked out with the MEK in Iraq by a US commander had prompted reports that the Pentagon planned to use them as "a Northern Alliance type organization... against the government of Iran."

"There never was such a plan. We will not do that," he said.

On the question of how far the United States would go to help remove Iran's ruling clerics from power, Feith was vague.

He noted that the administration has called on Iran to stop supporting terrorist groups, to developing nuclear weapons and comply with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

"And we know there is widespread unhappiness in the country about the failure of the clerical regime, and the president has expressed his sympathy with the aspiration of the Iranians to have a free country," he said.

"And that's our policy. And that's what we're willing to say and do," he said.

WAR.WIRE