Report: Iran lining up Vatican mediation

TEHRAN, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- The Vatican may be called upon to cool down the simmering dispute over Iran's nuclear program.

Time magazine said Tuesday its sources in Rome reported that Iranian officials have been laying the groundwork for the possible entry of Pope Benedict XVI into the fray as a means of averting a military showdown.

"They'll have an idea of when the 11th hour is coming and they know an intervention of the Vatican is the most open and amenable route to Western public opinion," an unidentified Western diplomat told Time. "It could buy them time."

The pope hasn't said much publicly on the standoff over what the United States says is an Iranian move toward acquiring nuclear weapons. At the same time, Iran maintains diplomatic relations with the Vatican.

Time said diplomats expected any Vatican role in the dispute to come in the form of emissaries dispatched to Washington and Tehran and public appeals for peace from Benedict himself.