"The armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will firmly respond to any military and threatening move," Brigader General Ali Fazli, spokesman for Iran's latest round of 10-day war games, told state television.

"The Iranian armed forces, which realise the different threats, have the capacity and capability to confront them," he added.

Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim 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.

"The enemies of the Islamic republic are too weak and too abject to be a threat for a powerful Iran," added Fazli, who did not specify what the nature of Iran's response would be.

Iran has been showing off its military prowess in recent days in the 10-day "Great Prophet II" war games, which have seen its fire its Shahab-3 longer range missile for the first time in manoeuvres and test-fire new weaponry.

In a speech in the town of Shahrud, northeast of Tehran, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei boasted of Iran's strength and its success in seeing off enemies since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"Over the past 27 years we did not have a day without an (enemy) conspiracy. Enemies have constantly been unsuccessful towards the Islamic Republic of Iran. Enemies have never succeeded and have never won."

Meanwhile, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, complained to Secretary General Kofi Annan and the Security Council over Israel's "threats" on Friday following the comments by 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 IRNA state agency said.

"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," it quoted the letter as saying.

"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 said.

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.