Three leading U.S. Republican lawmakers, including New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, yesterday dismissed reports that the United States was considering a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. They said they expect the Bush administration will use diplomacy to solve the standoff with Tehran.

Several weekend news reports also said President Bush's administration was studying options for military strikes against Iran. Bush on Monday called the reports "wild speculation" and said force is not necessarily required to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

A report in the New Yorker by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Seymour Hersh said the administration's planning includes the possibility that a nuclear warhead might be used against Iran's underground nuclear sites.

The story said that military leaders had tried to have it removed from the possible scenarios but were rebuffed.

"America has many characters. We have Donald Duck and Seymour Hersh and they're approximately in the same category," Gregg said. "And I give them the same credibility."

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said during the senators' visit to Warsaw, Poland that the reports were "an overstatement"- a position "that was clearly spelled out by the president of the United States."

"We expect full diplomacy to be explored thoroughly, politically, economically . . . with Iran to discourage their obtaining and seeking to obtain nuclear weapons,"said Frist, a Republican from Tennessee. He was joined by fellow Republican senators Gregg and Richard Burr of North Carolina.

Burr struck a similar tone, saying: "The obsession with this story suggests that Seymour Hersh has too much free time."

The senators were on a tour of four Eastern European countries. In Warsaw they held talks with Poland's president and prime minister that focused travel restrictions for Poles going to the U.S. and cooperation between the two countries, which are allies in Iraq.

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By VANESSA GERA

The Associated Press