In an interview with state-television, Ahmadinejad said the nuclear question is "closed" and "if anybody wants to talk of the nuclear issue, they would be hurting themselves."

His remark came minutes after the UN nuclear watchdog's chief accused Tehran of failing to provide any access or clarification on the possible military dimension of its nuclear programme.

"Iran right now is not providing any access, any clarification with regards to the whole area of possible military dimension," said Mohamed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"They are not following what the security concil asked us to do, that is 'please clarify this issue'," he said at a conference in Paris.