Iranians today stuck by their refusal to suspend uranium enrichment as a precondition for talks on its nuclear programme despite Western insistence that Tehran commit to the step as demanded by the UN Security Council.

The Iranian military today rejected a statement from a top Revolutionary Guards commander that Israel would be Iran’s first retaliatory target in response to any US attack, according to an Iranian news agency.

A top Revolutionary Guards commander said today that Israel would be Iran’s first retaliatory target in response to any US attack, a provocative threat that reinforced the Iranian president’s past call for Israel to be “wiped off the map”.