TEHRAN: Iran warned on Tuesday that it will not respond to every adverse claim about its nuclear drive, after a damning report from the UN atomic watchdog left the global community divided about future action. Amid continuing fears that one response might be a US or Israeli strike on Tehran's nuclear program, a top aide to Iran's supreme leader again raised the specter that his country could bring oil shipments from the Gulf to a halt if attacked.

"We are against offering the agency an open door once more and that they expect Iran to respond to any claim," said Alaeddin Borujerdi, head of Parliament's National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee.

He was commenting on a Monday report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that accused Iran of stalling over a probe into its nuclear work and said it was continuing uranium enrichment in defiance of UN demands.

"We do not think there should be an open forum so America can bring up a new claim every day and pass it on to the agency, expecting Iran to address any claim," Borujerdi was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

Iran's envoy to the IAEA also warned that Tehran would only cooperate within the framework of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its safeguard agreements. "We continue cooperating with the IAEA but they should not expect us to apply the additional protocol," Ali Asghar Soltanieh told state television.

Iran stopped applying the additional protocol, which gives inspectors broader access to its nuclear sites, after the nuclear case was referred to the UN Security Council in 2006.

The IAEA complained it was making little headway in probing allegations that Tehran has been involved in studies to make a nuclear warhead, as Iran refused to provide access to documentation, individuals or sites that could reveal the true nature of its activities.

Tehran said the allegations were based on fabricated documents and that it had provided the IAEA a 117-page response in May addressing some of the agency's questions.

The United States, which is spearheading moves against Iran's nuclear drive, warned that Tehran could face possible new sanctions. France seconded those suggestions, while China said sanctions would not resolve the stalemate.

Uranium enrichment lies at the core of fears about Iran's nuclear program, as the process can make nuclear fuel as well as - at much higher rates of refinement - the fissile core of an atom bomb.

Iran denies Western claims that it is seeking to build atomic weapons, insisting that it wants nuclear power to generate electricity, its right as a signatory to the NPT.

As diplomatic tensions remained high, a former head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps reiterated that those forces could halt vital shipping in the Gulf.

The State Department said officials from six world powers would meet in Washington on Friday to discuss ways to persuade Iran to stop its sensitive nuclear work.

The envoys from the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany will meet to "discuss the way forward," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. - AFP