May 22 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. described as ``absurd'' an accusation from Iran's Intelligence Ministry that a Washington- based academic arrested this month is working toward a ``soft revolution'' to topple the Islamic government.

Haleh Esfandiari, the 67-year-old director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, was arrested in Tehran on May 8 and taken to the capital's Evin prison, the organization said.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey described Esfandiari's work as aimed at helping Iranians and Americans ``be able to better understand each other.'' Casey urged Iranian authorities to release her.

``She's a researcher. She's also a grandmother and the child of a very elderly parent back in Tehran,'' Casey added. ``I hardly think that of such stuff a revolution is made.''

The official Islamic Republic News Agency cited an Intelligence Ministry statement released yesterday as saying Iran-related programs and activities of the Woodrow Wilson Center are sponsored by international financier George Soros. The ministry said the ``Soros Foundation has played a key role in revolutions in various countries in recent years.''

Sharon McCarter, a spokeswoman for the Woodrow Wilson Center, confirmed that the organization's Middle East program has received money from the Soros Foundation. The center has denied that Esfandiari or any groups associated with it were trying to undermine the Iranian government.

During interrogations, Esfandiari said ``the Soros Foundation has established an unofficial communication network and was seeking to expand it to follow on its objective to overthrow'' Iran's clerical ruling system, according to IRNA.

The goal is to ``empower this network and use it to confront the ruling powers. This model designed by the Americans is seeking to install a `soft revolution' in the country,'' the ministry said.

`Outrageous Claims'

``There is not one scintilla of evidence to support these outrageous claims,'' Wilson Center director Lee H. Hamilton was quoted as saying yesterday by the Washington Post. Esfandiari's husband, Shaul Bakhash, also called the allegations ``totally unfounded,'' the newspaper said.

Hamilton was co-chairman, with former Secretary of State James Baker, of a panel that recommended the U.S. engage in broader talks with Iran as a way to ease the conflict in Iraq.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said talks between U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and an Iranian envoy scheduled to take place in Baghdad on May 28 are ``going to be focused on Iraq'' and he doesn't expect Crocker to raise Efsandiari's case.

Unable to Leave

The Intelligence Ministry didn't specify whether Esfandiari, who entered Iran last December to visit her 93-year- old mother, will go on trial.

Esfandiari has been unable to leave Iran since the seizure of both her Iranian and American passports on Dec. 30 by three knife-wielding men as she was on her way to the airport to catch a flight to the U.S., the Wilson Center said.

The center said in a May 10 statement that Esfandiari had been questioned for about 50 hours over six weeks by Iranian intelligence. The interrogations were at times ``unpleasant and not free from intimidation and threat,'' according to the statement.

To contact the reporters on this story: Janine Zacharia in Washington at jzacharia@bloomberg.net; Ladane Nasseri in Tehran at lnasseri@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 22, 2007 15:26 EDT