U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte said Friday that the United States is taking seriously the possibility that Al-Qaida could expand its activities into Lebanon, based on intercepted communications, among other sources.

Negroponte said such a move, already publicly urged by Al-Qaida leaders, could not be ruled out despite the chasm between the predominantly Sunni Muslim group and Lebanon's militant Shiite Hezbollah, which ended a 34-day war with Israel last month.

In an interview with Reuters and the International Herald Tribune, Negroponte said Al-Qaida's ambition to expand in the region had been stated in a letter from its deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri to its then chief in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which was intercepted and released by the United States last year.

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"He talked about the priority attached to being successful in Iraq so it could then be used as a platform to extend their activities into the Levant, meaning Jordan, Syria and Lebanon," Negroponte said.

"It's not clear to me whether or not they've got a basis for successful activity in Lebanon, since the stronger Muslim sect in Lebanon is Shia. But I wouldn't rule that out. And there's been some evidence of al-Qaida activity in Lebanon," he added without elaborating.

Al-Qaida has highlighted the conflict in Lebanon in its messages to supporters, with Zawahri urging them this month to fight United Nations forces there as "enemies of Islam."

In a tape released on the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, he said: "I call on every sincere Muslim who is able to reach south Lebanon to rush to defeat the Zionist forces invading Lebanon ... to strive with everything at our disposal to set up a jihad base on the borders of Palestine."

However, some security analysts are skeptical that Al-Qaida could forge an alliance across the sectarian divide with Hezbollah.

They see its recent statements more as a bid to avoid being eclipsed by Hezbollah, which has won wide admiration around the Arab world for taking the fight to Israel and surviving the ensuing bombardment. Its leader boasted on Friday it still had more than 20,000 rockets intact.

Negroponte said an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners in mid-flight, uncovered by British police in August, was a "very vivid reminder" of Al-Qaida's ambitions.

Tehran is keeping West 'in the dark'
Negroponte also said on the interview that it was a "major question" whether Iran was running a secret military program but stopped short of accusing Tehran outright.

His comments came late on Friday as major powers at the UN sought to narrow their differences over sanctions against Iran.

"We believe that Iran practices denial and deception. So they devote a lot of effort, we believe, to keeping us in the dark about what their real intentions are," Negroponte said.

Earlier, senior officials of the United States, France, Russia, China, Britain, Germany and the European Union met at the UN in an attempt to narrow their differences over sanctions.

Iran runs a civilian nuclear program including enrichment of uranium. But it would require a parallel military program if it were to develop a nuclear warhead - an ambition it strongly denies.

Negroponte did not specify the type of sanctions the United States would seek, but said Washington saw a wide international consensus for action against Iran.

"I would hope and expect that we'd be able to keep that kind of consensus going forward," he said.