The United States has been trying to provocate Iran for a possible war with the Islamic country, the Newsweek said in a report on Sunday, citing a former White House official.

"They intend to be as provocative as possible and make the Iranians do something (America) would be forced to retaliate for," Hillary Mann, the Bush administration's former National Security Council director for Iran and Persian Gulf Affairs, was quoted by the magazine as saying.

The United States has dispatched two aircraft carriers to the Gulf region and this has fueled speculation that the United States will launch a war with Iran, although the White House has repeatedly claimed it has no plan to go to war with Iran.

The United States has also accused Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons and has been meddling in the internal affairs of Iraq. Iran has denied the charges.

Source: Xinhua