Tehran - A senior Iranian general warned the United States of the consequences of its interference in the Caucasus crisis, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported Saturday.

Deputy chief of staff General Masoud Jazayeri said that after Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States had caused another global crisis in the Caucasus.

"The greed of the US leadership is gradually leading the world towards the brink of ruin," the general said. In such a situation, any military attack on Iran would be "the start of a world war."

Tehran - Iran has 4,000 operational centrifuges at the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz in central Iran, deputy foreign minister Alireza Sheikh-Attar said Friday.

Official news agency IRNA quoted the minister as saying that almost 4,000 centrifuges were operating in Natanz and 3,000 more were in the stage of installation.

The remarks by Sheikh-Attar, who according to IRNA is to become Iran's next ambassador to Germany, contradict last month's claims by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that out of the 6,000 new centrifuges, 5,000 have become operational.

Tehran - Iran on Wednesday once again warned Israel with retaliation in case of a military attack on its nuclear sites, Mehr news agency reported.

It quoted the commander of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, as saying that if Israel endangered Iran's interests, the Islamic state would make the whole of Israeli territory "unsafe."

Tehran - The Iranian opposition party Etemad Melli (National Trust) appointed its moderate leader as its candidate for next year's presidential elections, state media reported Tuesday.

Teheran  - Iran has started production of new home-built submarines, Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najar said Monday.

Najar told state television that the new submarine, called Ghaem, was capable of carrying and firing various torpedoes and subsurface missiles with a special operation crew onboard.

The minister said Iran has become self-sufficient in manufacturing all types of military vessels, adding however that the Islamic state would just use its military strength for safeguarding peace and security in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman.

Tehran  - Iran warned the United States over interfering in the Caucasus crisis, ISNA news agency reported Monday.

"Powers outside the (Caucasus) region should not seek excuses for tensions and instability in the crisis area," ISNA quoted Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as saying.

"Their destiny in the Caucasus would definitely not be different than the dilemma they have in other regions where they have already created a crisis," Mottaki added, referring to the US presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.