DUBAI: Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has warned the United States that it would face worldwide retaliation in case his country was attacked.

"The Americans should know that if they launch an assault against Islamic Iran, their interests in every possible part of the world will be harmed," Iran's top religious leader was quoted as saying. He added, "The Iranian nation will give a double response to any strike."

Ayatollah Khamenei's tough warning followed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's assertion that Iran would resist demands calling for a halt of its uranium enrichment programme. The U.N. Security Council has given Iran an April 28 deadline to cease all enrichment activity.

Iran was unlikely to comply by the Council's demand, though the head of Iran's nuclear agency, Vice-President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, was slated for last minute talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials.

The new round of rhetoric from Teheran follows the visit of Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, to the United States. There have been apprehensions in Iran that Azerbaijan could emerge as a possible "frontline state" against Iran, should Teheran and Washington get embroiled in a military conflict. Azerbaijan, a close post-cold war U.S. ally, shares borders with Iran and Russia. Iran's Ambassador to Azerbaijan Afshar Suleimani was quoted as saying, "The U.S. plans to win over Azerbaijan to its side and use its territory as a base. However, I am sure that these attempts by Washington will not succeed." Mr. Suleimani said he was optimistic that Azerbaijan would abide by its 2002 non-aggression and cooperation treaty with Iran. He added that Iran was hoping for a diplomatic solution to the problem, but was "prepared to a war." Iran's Defence Minister was in Azerbaijan last week, and Mr. Ahmadinejad is planning to visit Baku in May.

Preparing for a worst-case scenario, Iran has also been making energetic efforts to persuade its pro-American Gulf neighbours not to support military action against it. Its top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani was on Sunday in Bahrain, headquarters of the U.S. fifth fleet that coordinates American naval activity in the Gulf. Earlier the former President, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, said at a press conference in Kuwait, that the Gulf countries had assured him that they would not support an American attack on Iran.

Meanwhile, Israel, Iran's arch-foe has launched a sophisticated spy satellite that can keep an eye on Iranian nuclear activities at close range. The high resolution Eros-B satellite can pick objects kept 70 meters apart, and was capable of monitoring missile-launching sites.

Tensions between Israel and Iran have been growing, with former the Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, comparing Mr. Ahmadinejad with Adolf Hitler. On Monday, the Iranian President, on his part, had reiterated that the Holocaust was a "myth."

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