Iran's senior nuclear negotiator said today that Tehran wanted to resolve decades of differences with the United States but warned that a US military strike would not destroy all of Iran's nuclear facilities.
Iran's leaders have tried in recent days to ease increasing tensions with Washington; President Bush last week accused Iran of being "the world's primary state sponsor of terror".
"We are not seeking tension with the United States," negotiator Mr Hasan Rowhani told the state-run television. "We are seeking to resolve our problems with America but it's the Americans who don't want problems be resolved.
"There is no problem in today's world that can't be resolved," said Mr Rowhani, who is secretary of Iran's powerful Supreme National Security Council.
Washington alleges Iran is secretly using its civilian nuclear programme to build a nuclear bomb, but Iran denies this, saying its nuclear activities are geared solely toward generating electricity.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday said that a military strike against Iran was "simply not on the agenda at this point," but Mr Bush has not ruled out a military strike as an option.
Mr Rowhani said that a US military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities would fail.
"Iran's nuclear technology is in the hands of its scientists and workshops throughout the country. All of them have the ability to produce centrifuges. Therefore, America will not be able to destroy our nuclear facilities and mines through a military strike," he said.
Israel has warned that it may consider a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear installations along the lines of its 1981 bombing of an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak near Baghdad but Iranian officials have said any possible attack would fail.
Iran's nuclear facilities are spread throughout the country and partly built under the ground making an aerial attack all the more difficult.
Iran suspended uranium enrichment and all related activities in November, hoping to build trust and avoid UN Security Council sanctions. The International Atomic Energy Agency has agreed to police the suspension.
Under an agreement reached with the European Union, Iran will continue suspension of its enrichment activities during negotiations with the Europeans about economic, political and technological aid. Iran has said it will decide within three months whether to continue its suspension, which is monitored by UN nuclear inspectors.
AP