Iran urges US to stop using 'language of force'

"We have seen some confusion over Iran within the American leadership, and we hope they will see sense and not use the language of force, because this will have the opposite effect," spokesman Hami-Reza Asefi told reporters.

"Certain people (in Iran) think that dialogue is a waste of time, and if the pressure becomes too strong, it will strengthen the hand of those against dialogue," he added.

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Asefi's comments come amid mounting US pressure against Iran's clerical regime, accused by Washington of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, harbouring al-Qaeda fugitives, sponsoring anti-Israeli militants and meddling in post-war Iraq.

Tehran and Washington cut diplomatic ties after the 1979 Islamic revolution, but for several months the two sides have been engaged in discreet talks within a forum initially set up to address the crisis in Afghanistan.

But those contacts were abruptly halted after the May 12 suicide bombings in Riyadh that killed 35 people and which US officials believe could have been planned by Iran-based operatives of the al-Qaeda terror network.

US pressure on Iran has since mounted, leading many to fear that Iran could be next on Washington's hit-list -- despite denials from top US officials.

In a swipe at the United States, however, Asefi argued that "the Americans' accusations can be explained by their failures in Iraq and Afghanistan".

The previous day, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi made a similar plea for the US administration -- which had lumped Iran into an "axis of evil" along with Saddam Hussein's Iraq and North Korea -- to cease what is being seen here as a concerted campaign of intimidation.

"They cannot deal like this with Iran," Kharazi told deputies.

"You have to help Iran, because pressure will lead nowhere and will only make radical thoughts flourish, and this is not in the favour of us, the region or anybody."

But the calls for detente have been matched by defiant comments in recent weeks from Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who on Sunday accused Washington of pursuing a "devilish plot" to undermine the Islamic republic.

Turning to the nuclear issue, Asefi also insisted Iran was fully cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose inspectors are currently in the country probing Iran's civil atomic energy programme.

"We have a transparent policy with regard to the agency, and we are waiting for the world to have a transparent policy with us. This visit is a sign that we wish to cooperate with the agency," he said.