Iran has agreed to help U.S. military personnel in the relatively unlikely event they end up in distress in Iran during operations in neighboring Afghanistan, a State Department official said on Tuesday. 
"We indicated that if this event ... were to occur, we would be looking for this kind of reaction from them and they indicated 'Yes, that's fine'," said the senior official, who asked not to be named. 
He was referring to a New York Times report that Iran showed willingness to help in a message sent on Oct. 8, in response to a message from the Bush administration the day before. 
Iran and the United States usually communicate with each other through the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which represents U.S. interests there in the absence of diplomatic relations. 
Another State Department official, who also asked not to be named, said the Iranian offer meant a fairly low level of cooperation with the United States in its war on the al Qaeda organization of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. "They would do the same in the case of a shipwreck," he added. 
Iran has criticized the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan and has not allowed U.S. planes to use its airspace. 
Iranian assistance could arise if, for example, a U.S. pilot in trouble had to make an emergency landing and did not want to land in territory controlled by the Taliban, who are also targets in the U.S. bombing campaign. 
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker declined to discuss diplomatic contacts with Iran but said that a positive Iranian role in the U.S. campaign against terrorism would "contribute to our goal of promoting peace and stability." 
"That said, the U.S. and Iran continue to have serious and long-standing policy differences with each other... Our policy toward Iran has not changed," he added. 
The United States calls Iran a "state sponsor of terrorism" because of its support for Lebanese and Palestinian groups fighting Israeli occupation of Arab land. Iran says the groups are waging a legitimate struggle. 
They also differ over Iranian opposition to U.S. diplomacy in the Arab-Israeli conflict and U.S. allegations, denied by Tehran, that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. 
Iran, because of suspicions dating back to the Islamic revolution of 1979, is the only country in the world to turn down U.S. requests for a government-to-government dialogue. 
It has repeatedly rebuffed U.S. overtures, most recently when the Bush administration interpreted Iranian condemnation of "terrorism" and of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington as a sign that Iran was willing to cooperate. 
Asked if the United States was adjusting its attitude toward Iran and terrorism, Reeker said: "Everything that we've said in our Patterns of Global Terrorism (the annual State Department report) is exactly as that stands." 
"What we've said from here many times, is that countries have an opportunity to change." 
Reeker also denied the Bush administration was courting favor with Iran when it went to court on Monday to argue against a claim for compensation by 52 Americans who were held hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran after the revolution. 
The hostages argue they can claim compensation from Iran under the 1996 Anti-Terrorism Act. 
The State Department argues that the Algiers Accords of 1981, which brought the hostage crisis to an end, prevent the embassy hostages from suing the Iranian government for compensation for their captivity. 
"We're simply complying with U.S. law with our obligations under an international agreement," Reeker said. 
"This has absolutely no connection to the war on terrorism, and it was after reviewing the court papers for the case that we realized that ... the United States government was obligated to take action to comply with the international agreement under the Algiers accords," he added.