"The Iranians have once again indulged in state lies. They have no intention of halting their nuclear programme, which will continue in secret," a senior foreign ministry official told AFP.

Tehran last week agreed with Britain, France and Germany to suspend as of Monday all its uranium enrichment activities to avoid the threat of being referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

"Like the Europeans and Americans, we have precise information on a network of secret installations where Iranians will continue to enrich uranium. Only known sites have been inspected," said an aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"If we abide by the agreement concluded by the Europeans, Iran will join the nuclear club in three to five years' time," the Sharon aide added.

"The Europeans don't seem to understand the danger they face -- the Iranians have given notice they intend to add to their arsenal long-range missiles that can carry nuclear warheads and will threaten London, Paris or Berlin in a few years."

Israel has never signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and is widely believed to have an arsenal of its own of some 200 warheads.

But despite Iran's signature of both the NPT and its additional protocol, Israel and key ally the United States charge that its nuclear programme is a cover for a covert weapons drive.

"The Europeans are again the weak link in the chain, deliberately blinding themselves to the reality so that they can boast a diplomatic victory over the Americans," the foreign ministry official complained.

Nevertheless, Ephraim Tam, deputy head of Tel Aviv's Jaffee Center For Strategic Studies, said the Euro-Iranian deal should be given a chance.

"It is clear that the Iranians want to play for time but we must see whether they respect their word and play the diplomatic card," he said.

In 1981, Israel bombed a French-built nuclear reactor in Iraq for fear that its then arch-foe Saddam Hussein would use it to develop the bomb.

But none of the Israeli officials contacted by AFP saw a military strike as the way forward in Iran's case "yet", contenting themselves that US political pressure would not grind to a halt with the European deal.

On Saturday, US President George W. Bush personally weighed in, warning Iran and North Korea that the world was united in its determination to thwart any further proliferation of nuclear weapons.

"This is a very serious matter, the world knows it's a serious matter, and we're working together to solve this matter," he told the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Chile.

On his way to the APEC summit Wednesday, Secretary of State Colin Powell levelled new charges against Iran, saying US intelligence showed it was adapting ballistic missiles to carry nuclear warheads.

The following day, the Washington Post quoted other unidentified US officials as rubbishing the basis of Powell's information, describing it as an "unvetted, single source" not previously known to the US intelligence services.

State Department officials stood by their outgoing boss.

Detractors of the European deal have also made much of charges by diplomats at the Internatonal Atomic Energy Agency Saturday that Iran was continuing production of uranium hexafluoride gas despite the looming deadline to supend it.

Iran has vowed that all activities it is required to terminate under the agreement with the Europeans will be halted by Monday's deadline.

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