In a rare event, Khamenei was delivering a weekly Friday sermon only three days after US President George W. Bush was re-elected and on the same day Iranian and EU negotiators were discussing Tehran's controversial atomic program.

Addressing himself to Bush live on national television, he said: "No sir, we are not seeking to have nuclear weapons.

"Our nuclear weapon is this country, and the youth of its people."

As for the arms themselves, he said that to "manufacture, possess or use them, that all poses a problem. I have expressed my religious convictions about this, and everyone knows it."

The foreign ministry has previously stated that Khamenei had issued a fatwa (religious decree) that nuclear weapons are proscribed by Islam.