Iran, whose president this week called for the destruction of the state of Israel, poses a challenge to the international community but military action is not being considered as a response, British Defense Secretary John Reid said Sunday.

The United Nations was holding informal discussions Sunday about Iran, which has been accused of supporting insurgents in their attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq. There is also international concern that the Middle Eastern nation has ambitions to build nuclear weapons.

Reid said Iran appeared to be trying to confront the international community, which is considering how to respond.

"I don't think anybody is speaking about military involvement at any level about the questions we are facing just now," he said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp.'s Sunday AM program.

"But it is certainly a challenge to the United Nations."

"You cannot have a member of the United Nations developing its own nuclear weapons in complete breach of all of the promises, all of its obligations, and at the same time threatening to wipe out another state of the U.N."

Reid said he did not have conclusive proof that the Iranian government was involved in providing weapons to insurgents in Iraq. But there was evidence of the involvement of Iranian elements in the Iraqi insurgency, he said.

"Iran has to change its behavior in terms of support for terrorism, in deceit over nuclear weapons and in terms of its relationship and threats to other members of the international community," he said.

"That is a challenge to the whole world and to the United Nations. It is the United Nations which must face up to that and (Secretary-General) Kofi Annan has made it plain that it intends to face up to that."

© 2005 Associated Press

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