Calls for Iranian involvement in Afghanistan have come from US military chief Admiral Michael Mullen and US Middle East and Central Asia Commander General David Petraeus, as well as NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

The European Union said meanwhile Wednesday that Iran will be invited to talks preparing for a spring meeting between the EU and Asian nations that will focus on Afghanistan. Tehran was absent from a similar meeting in December.

Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that Iran is among countries in central Asia that could help bring stability to Afghanistan.

"Iran is unhelpful in many, many ways, so I wouldn't be overly optimistic at this point but there are mutual interests that I think might offer some possibilities," Mullen said.

Despite their antagonism, US officers and analysts say, Shiite Muslim Iran shares the US fear of the Taliban's puritan Sunni strain of Islam and the drug trafficking that both crosses into Iran and fuels the Taliban insurgency.

Analyst Karim Sadjadpour said involving Iran could be the key to begin to thaw three decades of frozen US-Iranian diplomatic ties because they could find "common cause" in Afghanistan.

"It is a very intelligent idea because ... it kills two birds with one stone," Sadjadpour told AFP.

"You're helping to improve the situation in Afghanistan and you're helping to build confidence with Iran," according to the specialist with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

It could take years, he added, to build confidence on the other issues dividing the two countries.

The United States not only accuses Iran of seeking to build an atomic bomb, but also of arming anti-US militants in Iraq as well as anti-Israeli militants in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

Iran denies the charges, saying it is pursuing a peaceful nuclear energy program and a policy that offers moral support to Lebanon's Hezbollah and financial aid to the Hamas government in Gaza.

Michael O'Hanlon, a security analyst with the Brookings Institution, said involving Iran in stabilizing Afghanistan "is worth doing on its own" merits.

Obama has described Afghanistan as the central front in the US-led war on terrorism as the Taliban makes a comeback after being toppled from power in 2001.

However, O'Hanlon acknowledged that such cooperation could help "break the ice" in a frigid US-Iran relationship -- albeit with a strong dose of caution.

"If you're keeping your guard up and keeping your expectations in check, you can always hope that there may be this sort of progress on other matters," O'Hanlon told AFP.

During a Senate hearing before she was confirmed as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton echoed calls for a regional approach to Afghanistan, although she did not explicitly mention Iran.

Petraeus, whom president George W. Bush appointed commander of US Central Command and who appears to be staying on under Obama, was explicit about Iran when he spoke publicly on January 8.

A resolution in Afghanistan requires "a regional approach ... that includes Pakistan, India the Central Asian states and even China and Russia, along with perhaps, at some point Iran," Petraeus said.

In an interview on Monday, Obama, speaking generally, said the United States would offer arch-foe Iran an extended hand of diplomacy if the Islamic Republic's leaders "unclenched their fist."

In reply, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad demanded that Obama withdraw US troops across the world and apologize for the "crimes" committed by the United States against Iran over the past 60 years.

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