GENEVA (AP) The United States identified Iraq and five other countries yesterday as states that are developing germ warfare programs but refused to say whether any may have assisted Osama bin Laden in his quest for biological weapons.

John R. Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control, said the existence of Iraq"s program is "beyond dispute" and that the United States strongly suspects North Korea, Libya, Syria, Iran and Sudan of developing programs.

"The United States strongly suspects that Iraq has taken advantage of three years of no U.N. inspections to improve all phases of its offensive biological weapons program," Bolton said. "The existence of Iraq"s program is beyond dispute."

Condoleeza Rice, President Bush"s national security adviser, on Sunday left open the possibility that Iraq could become a target in Bush"s war on terrorism.

"We do not need the events of September 11 to tell us that (Saddam Hussein) is a very dangerous man who is a threat to his own people, a threat to the region and a threat to us because he is determined to acquire weapons of mass destruction," she said.

Bolton also told the 144 nations that have signed the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention that the United States finds North Korea"s biological weapons program "extremely disturbing."

He said the United States believed North Korea had a dedicated, national-level effort to achieve a biological weapons capability and that it has "developed and produced, and may have weaponized" biological agents.

He also said the United States was "quite concerned" about Iran, Libya, Syria and Sudan, all of which appeared to have biological weapons programs.

"There are other states I could have named which the United States will be contacting privately concerning our belief that they are pursuing an offensive biological weapons program," he said.

Bolton said the United States knows "that Osama bin Laden considers obtaining weapons of mass destruction to be a sacred duty" and wants to use them against the United States."

"We are concerned that he could have been trying to acquire a rudimentary biological weapons capability, possibly with support from a state."

He said the United States was "not prepared to comment whether rogue states may have assisted" bin Laden in the plan.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, the Iranian ambassador to the conference, said the allegation that his country was developing biological weapons was "unjustified and baseless."