Federal Reserve officials downplayed concerns about the impactof geopolitical uncertainty on the U.S. economy amid flaringtensions with Iran, even as a record of the central bank's meetinglast month showed that downside risks remain on their minds.

"That's one of the great things about the U.S. economy, is itdoes have this resiliency to it," Cleveland Fed President LorettaMester said Friday in an interview on Bloomberg Television."Obviously we can't know what is going to happen in the Middle Eastat this point, and it adds to the uncertainty surrounding things,but fundamentally, the economy is sound."

Mester's comments, coming from the sidelines of the annualAmerican Economic Association meeting in San Diego, echoed those ofher Chicago Fed counterpart Charles Evans, who spoke earlier in aBloomberg TV interview.