Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, submitted the complaint to Secretary General Kofi Annan and the Security Council on Friday following the comments by Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh.

"The letter, underlining threats from Sneh and other Israeli officials, regards these statements as illegal, ridiculous and a sign of the Zionist regime's criminal policies and terrorist intentions," the state agency said.

Sneh had told the Jerusalem Post on Friday he considered military action against Iran as a "last resort. But even the last resort is sometimes the only resort."

His comments were seen as the clearest statement yet by an Israeli official that military strikes against Iran over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear activities were not excluded.

"Unfortunately the Security Council's inaction over the Israeli regime's terrorist acts have emboldened this regime to continue its crimes and not heed the most obvious international principles and the UN convention," the Iranian letter said.

"The Security Council should act in the face of such statements and the Israeli regime's terrorist acts. As a first step it should at least promptly condemn the Israeli regime's threats against Tehran," it continued.

Israel, along with the United States, accuses Iran of seeking nuclear weapons and regards the Islamic republic as its chief enemy after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map.

Iran vehemently denies the charges over its nuclear programme, which it insists is solely aimed at generating energy.

Israel is widely believed to be the only country in the Middle East to have a nuclear arsenal, estimated at 200 warheads, although it has never formally confirmed or denied it holds such weapons.

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