The Iranian military has rejected a statement from a senior Revolutionary Guards commander that Israel would be Iran's first target in response to any US attack.
Brigadier General Alireza Afshar, deputy to the chief of Iran's military staff, said the statement by Mohammad Ebrahim Dehghani "is his personal view and has no validity as far as the Iranian military officials are concerned," according to the Entekhab News Agency.
Mr Dehghani was quoted by the Iranian Student News Agency on Tuesday as saying: "We have announced that wherever [in Iran] America does make any mischief, the first place we target will be Israel."
His threat came after the Iranian president's call for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and added to international concerns over Iran's suspect nuclear programme.
Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres reacted to Mr Dehghani's warning with a call for Iran to scrap its nuclear programme and a warning of his own: "Remember that Israel is exceptionally strong and knows how to defend itself."
President Bush has said a military option remains on the table if Iran does not agree to international demands to stop enriching uranium and open its nuclear programme to intrusive inspections. But Mr Bush has stressed that Washington wants to solve the dispute through diplomacy.
The United States, Britain and France are expected to circulate a Security Council resolution making mandatory the council's earlier demand that Iran halt uranium enrichment. They want the resolution adopted under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which would mean it could be enforced by sanctions or military action.
But Russia and China say there is no evidence that Tehran is trying to produce nuclear weapons and oppose putting the resolution under Chapter 7.
AP