VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is studying whether condoms can be condoned to help stem the tide of AIDS, but it has given no indication that a pronouncement is expected, officials said Tuesday.

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who heads the Vatican office for health care, was quoted over the weekend in La Repubblica daily as saying his office was preparing a document on the question of condoms and AIDS, and that it would be released soon.

But on Tuesday, he clarified that his office was merely studying the issue at the request of Pope Benedict XVI as part of a broader "dialogue" with other Vatican departments.

"We are conducting a very profound scientific, technical and moral study" on how to deal with married couples when one is infected with HIV, he told Vatican Radio.

He said the study would be presented to the pope.

While the Vatican has no specific policy concerning condoms and AIDS, the Roman Catholic Church opposes the use of condoms as part of its overall teaching against contraception. It advocates sexual abstinence as the best way to combat the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today that if the United States attacks Iran, U.S. interests around the world would be harmed, state-run Tehran television reported.Speaking to laborers on the occasion of the International Laborers Day, Khamenei said U.S. officials have been using threatening language against Iran for the past 27 years, but the Iranian nation and officials do not care about the threats."The Americans should know that if they invade Iran, their interests around the world would be harmed. Iran will respond double-fold to any attack," the television quoted Khamenei as saying.Iran is locked in a dispute with the United States and its allies over its controversial nuclear program and is facing a U.N. deadline Friday to suspend uranium enrichment or risk possible sanctions.

OSLO, Norway — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said today that an international conference should be called immediately to jumpstart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and that the new Hamas government would not get in the way.Speaking in the Norwegian capital, Abbas said he was willing to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians and that an international group should serve as a broker, possibly the so-called "Quartet" of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations."I am ready to immediately resume negotiations with the Israeli government," Abbas said. "It is important for me to clarify that the Palestinian legislative elections, which brought Hamas to power, (are) not an obstacle in front of negotiations."