TEHERAN - IRAN'S president said his country would strike its enemies before they managed to fire a shot, media reported, part of an escalating war of words on its nuclear ambitions fuelling Middle East tensions.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad echoed comments by other Iranian officials and commanders that Iran's response to any attack over its disputed nuclear programme would be quick.

'Before the enemies get their hands on the trigger the armed forces will cut off their hands,' the official IRNA news agency on Sunday quoted Mr Ahmadinejad as telling reporters.

A senior Iranian official was quoted as saying on Saturday that Iran would destroy Israel and 32 United States military bases in the Middle East if the Islamic Republic was attacked.

The United States has refused to rule out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the nuclear row. Washington says Teheran is seeking nuclear arms, a charge Iran denies, saying its aim is to generate electricity.

Israel, long assumed to have nuclear arms, has sworn to prevent Iran from attaining atomic weapons. An Israeli air force drill last month raised speculation it was planning an attack.

Iranian missile tests this week further stoked tension.

Fears of military confrontation between Iran and Israel have helped to send global oil prices to record highs.

Oil exports from the whole Gulf region would be at risk if Iran's exports were hindered by any threat, Iran's Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi said on Sunday.

Around 40 per cent of global oil shipments leave the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz off Iran's southern coast. Teheran has threatened to impose controls on shipping there if it is attacked, and warned Gulf neighbours of reprisals if they took part.

'If there is a threat in our region this will not be just against our exports,' Mr Khatibi said in a telephone interview.

'It will affect other producers, not just Iran. I mean the oil exporters Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Any problem from the United States or Israel to the region would be a threat to 40 per cent of all the world's traded oil.'

US interests
Mr Ahmadinejad also suggested Iran would consider any proposal by the United States for a US interests section in the Islamic Republic, should one be forthcoming. The two countries have not had diplomatic ties since 1980.

US media have reported that the State Department was considering opening an interests section that could mean some US diplomats returning to Teheran but operating under another country's flag.

US officials have said there are no concrete plans on such an idea. But Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said this month at the United Nations in New York that any such proposal, if made, could be examined.

'Iran favours actions that would result in enhanced ties between nations of the world,' Mr Ahmadinejad said when asked about the issue, according to the website of state-run Press TV. 'We are ready to consider all proposals in this regard.'

The Swiss embassy currently handles US interests in Iran but there are no US diplomats working there.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is expected to meet European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Geneva on July 19 for talks on the long-running nuclear dispute.

Mr Ahmadinejad, who has previously called for a public debate with the US president, expressed willingness to hold direct talks with George W. Bush.

The United States says Iran must suspend uranium enrichment, which can have both civilian and military uses, before they can sit down and talk about nuclear and other issues.

'As I have already said, we have absolutely no need for an intermediary in negotiations with others ... I am ready to hold direct negotiations with Mr Bush,' Mr Ahmadinejad said.

However, he added, 'if anyone should want to set conditions (for entering talks) it would be us'. -- REUTERS