US Defense Secretary Robert Gates repeated tonight the US had no plan to attack Iran after Tehran said it would target US interests if attacked over its disputed nuclear programme.
"They make threats like this from time to time. We have no intention of attacking Iran," he told a news conference after meeting his NATO counterparts in the Spanish city of Seville
Earlier Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said today the Islamic Republic would target US interests around the world if it came under attack over its disputed nuclear programme.
His comments came as an Iranian naval commander said Revolutionary Guards had test fired missiles that could sink "big warships" in the Gulf, the waterway where a second US aircraft carrier is now heading.
The White House said it did not see that as a direct assault on US ships. Iran and the United States are locked in a war of words over Tehran's nuclear energy programme, which Washington says is being channelled into bomb-building, a charge Tehran denies.
"(Iran's) enemies know well that any aggression will lead to a reaction from all sides in the Iranian nation on the aggressors and their interests around the world," state television quoted Khamenei as saying. Washington said the United States planned to stick to firm diplomacy, not go to war with the Islamic Republic.
"I've said it, the secretary of defense has said it, the president has said it: We're not invading Iran," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.
"(Khamenei is) spinning a hypothetical about something that is not contemplated." Iranian security chief Ali Larijani said yesterday he would hold negotiations with European officials at a February 9-11 conference in Germany, the first such contacts since UN sanctions were imposed on Iran in December over the nuclear row. European diplomats said any talks were expected to be exploratory.
They noted Iran was still rejecting a mandatory UN Security Council resolution demanding it stop enriching uranium to create trust.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards test fired missiles in wargames today which a commander said could sink "big warships" in the Gulf, Sea of Oman and the north of the Indian Ocean.
Iran is at loggerheads with the United States over its disputed nuclear programme and what Washington calls its meddling in Iraq.
The United States has ordered a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf to step up pressure on Iran.
"These missiles, with a maximum range of 220 miles, can hit different kinds of big warships in all of the Persian Gulf, all of the Sea of Oman and the north of the Indian Ocean," senior Revolutionary Guards naval commander Ali Fadavi said.
He was also quoted by the state broadcaster's Web site as saying missile's warhead had the capacity to sink "all kinds of big warships".
State television reported that the missile tests, staged on the second day of wargames by the Guards' naval and air units, were "to show that Iran is able to confront any possible threats."
Washington is pressing its European allies to take tougher measures against Iran including tightening trade sanctions and has called for tougher UN sanctions if Tehran fails to halt nuclear enrichment that could be used to produce weapons.
"We believe that no one will make such an unwise and wrong move (to attack Iran) that would endanger their country and interests," Khamenei said.
"Some say that the US president is not the type who acts based on calculations or thinks about the consequences of his action. But even these people can be brought to their senses."