TEHRAN, May 2: Iran threatened on Tuesday to attack Israel in response to any “evil” act by the United States and said it had enriched uranium to a level close to the maximum compatible with civilian use in power stations.

The defiant statements were issued shortly before world powers met in Paris late on Tuesday to plan their next moves after Tehran rejected a UN Security Council call to halt uranium enrichment.

Senior officials from the UN Security Council’s permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany discussed how to curb an Iranian programme that Western nations say conceals a drive for atomic warheads.

Iran denies the charge and refuses to back down saying It has right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Driving home that message, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, said his country had now succeeded in purifying uranium to 4.8 per cent, at the top end of the 3 to 5 per cent range for fuel used in nuclear power plants.

“Enrichment above 5 percent is not on Iran’s agenda,” Aghazadeh told the students’ ISNA news agency.

Iran has previously said it had enriched to more than 4 Per cent, far below the 80 per cent level needed for bomb-making.

It has used a test cascade of 164 centrifuges to enrich uranium so far and is building two similar cascades. It says it will start installing 3,000 centrifuges later this year — which could yield enough material for one bomb within a year.

The United States and Israel have vowed to deny Iran nuclear weapons. Washington has not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails and Tehran has sworn to retaliate if attacked.

“We have announced that wherever America does something evil, the first place that we target will be Israel,” ISNA quoted a senior Revolutionary Guards commander, Rear Admiral Mohammad-Ebrahim Dehqani, as saying on Tuesday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map.

Iran’s deputy oil minister said there was “some possibility” of a US attack on his country over its nuclear programme.

“I am worried. Everybody is worried,” Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian said in New Delhi after talks on a proposed $7 billion pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan.

Concerns that Iran’s dispute with the West could lead to disruption of its oil output pushed oil prices above $74 a barrel, close to the record of $75.35 touched last month.

The United States, Britain and France are expected to introduce a resolution to the Security Council this week that would legally oblige Iran to comply with UN demands. The three countries favour limited sanctions if Tehran remains defiant.

Iran said Russia and China, also veto-wielding permanent council members, would not back any punitive measures.

“The thing these two countries have officially told us and expressed in diplomatic negotiations is their opposition to sanctions and military attacks,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told Iran’s Kayhan newspaper.

China and Russia both have big energy interests in Iran, the world’s fourth biggest oil exporter. Russia is also helping Iran build its first atomic power plant in the Gulf port of Bushehr.

In New York, China’s UN ambassador, Wang Guangya, said he had seen an outline of a proposed Security Council resolution on Iran being drafted by Britain.

“There are some elements that might cause difficulties,” he told reporters, declining to elaborate.

Other UN diplomats said, however, that no draft was yet being circulated among council members ahead of the Paris talks.

Nicholas Burns, the US under-secretary of state for political affairs, said in Paris that Tuesday’s meeting was aimed at keeping the Security Council members and Germany united before a meeting of foreign ministers in New York on May 9.

Asked about Mottaki’s comments, he said: “All I know is that China and Russia say that they don’t want a nuclear-armed Iran. And China and Russia have voted with us against the government of Iran. So we intend to preserve this unity.”

Burns said he expected a consensus to emerge over the next 30-40 days on the need to send a “stiff message” to Iran, adding that a range of sanctions had been discussed privately.

These included restricting exports to Iran of dual-use technology that could support its research and development or help it fabricate fissile material or a nuclear device.

Other options were travel curbs on Iranian officials and a ban on arms sales to Iran, such as a planned Russian missile deal. Oil and gas sanctions were not being discussed now.

“We hope that the UN Security Council, through a resolution, will send a firm and united message to Iran,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said in Paris.

In Washington State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday’s talks focused on the language of a resolution. Sanctions were not included for now but could be later and states could consider imposing sanctions individually, he said.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), says it cannot confirm that Iran’s goals are peaceful, but has found no proof of a military programme.

URANIUM DEPOSITS: Iran said on Tuesday it had found uranium ore atthree newly discovered sites in the centre of the country.