Iran's supreme leader has boldly warned the United States that it would be "harmed" across the globe if it decided to attack the Islamic republic over its disputed nuclear programme.

The stern warning came as hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed the regime would resist any UN Security Council demands for a halt in uranium enrichment, at the centre of fears the country could acquire nuclear weapons.

Accompanied by Iran's army commanders, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, reviews army missiles, during a parade ceremony commemorating Army Day in front of the mausoleum of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini just outside Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, April 18, 2006. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

"The Americans should know that if they launch an assault against Islamic Iran, their interests in every possible part of the world will be harmed," Ayatollah Khamenei was quoted as saying by state television.

"The Iranian nation will give a double response to any strike," the top cleric warned in one of his toughest threats ever.

The UN Security Council has given Iran until Friday to freeze enrichment work, which makes what can be fuel for civilian nuclear reactors but also material for a bomb.

Iran has rejected the demand, insisting it wants only to generate electricity. The deadlock could open the door to UN economic sanctions or even military action, something the United States has not ruled out.

"The alert and decisive nation and government of Iran... will not pay attention to these threats," Khamenei said in a speech to factory workers in Tehran.

The previous day, Khamenei had also said the Islamic regime was ready to share nuclear technology with other countries. The US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said this showed "how irresponsible Iran is and why it represents, in our view, a grave threat of proliferation."

The hardline president meanwhile repeated that the oil-rich country "won't back down one iota" in the worsening crisis -- which has already helped nudge world oil prices to record highs.

"If international institutions respect our legitimate rights, we will respect their decisions. However, we will not regard these decisions as valid if they are intended to deny us our rights," Ahmadinejad told the official IRNA news agency.

He also warned Iran could "reconsider its relations" with the world body.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has been investigating Iran for more than three years, but the UN watchdog says it is still not in a position to judge the true nature of the country's nuclear programme.

Western powers, led by the United States, are convinced Iran is seeking either the bomb or the "strategic capacity" to make one.

But according to Ahmadinejad, the dispute was merely serving as a "trial for international bodies to prove whether they are defending the rights of nations or whether they are acting as puppets in the hands of some bullying powers".

The rest of the world must "accept Iran as a nuclear country, which is an undeniable fact", he asserted.

Iran's national security chief Ali Larijani had warned on Tuesday that sanctions would merely bring an end to UN inspections, while an attack would send Iran's nuclear activities underground.

The head of Iran's nuclear agency, Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, was meanwhile to hold last-ditch talks with the UN nuclear watchdog, but diplomats said there was no indication that Iran would offer any concessions.

The agency is also still seeking documents on dealings Iran had with a nuclear black market network run by disgraced Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Kahn, the father of his country's atomic bomb.

It also wants to interview military officers who may have overseen secret enrichment or "dual-use" activities and to find out if Iran hid work with sophisticated P2 centrifuges, which can enrich uranium more quickly and abundantly than earlier models.

The IAEA also seeks documents Iran has on making uranium hemispheres that form the core of atom bombs and has questions about work that could be aimed at designing missiles with nuclear warheads.

Copyright © 2006 AFP

###