Iran yesterday warned that any Israeli attack against it would provoke a swift response.

Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehei said an Israeli attack would be "stupidity."

"In case the Zionist regime attacks Iran, it will get a swift response and will regret its action," Ejehei said.

Israel has threatened to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if negotiations fail to convince Iran to give up its uranium enrichment programme. Iran has repeatedly warned of a strong response if attacked.

Iran resumed small scale uranium enrichment earlier this month after the Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency reported it to the UN Security Council over its controversial nuclear programme.

Last month, Iranian Defence Minister Gen Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said if Israel attacks Iran's nuclear facilities, Iran will respond so strongly that it would put the Jewish state into "an eternal coma" like Premier Ariel Sharon's.

Israel, whose warplanes destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, maintains a nuclear monopoly in the Middle East.

While it neither admits nor denies possessing nuclear arms, Israel is thought to harbour about 200 nuclear warheads deployed on ballistic missiles, aircraft and submarines, according to the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Iran's nuclear facilities are scattered around the country and part of the sites are underground as a protection against possible air strikes, making the possibility of a successful raid remote.

Iran denies US and Israeli accusations that it seeks nuclear weapons, insisting that its nuclear programme is intended to produce nuclear fuel to generate electricity.

Meanwhile, Tehran said it would consider a comprehensive Russian proposal on uranium enrichment, giving new hope for what is seen as the best chance for averting a confrontation.

The stance came as Iran launched a new round of diplomacy, with talks scheduled for today in Moscow and in Brussels with European officials ahead of a Macrh 5 meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog agency.

Under the Russian proposal - which has US and European backing - Iran's enrichment activities would take place on Russian soil to ensure no uranium is diverted for nuclear weapons. Enrichment is a key process that can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or material for a warhead.

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