US sees Israeli strike on Iran

A classified US war simulation held to assess potential fallout from an Israeli attack on Iran predicts it would spark a broader regional war involving the United States, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The simulation was not considered a rehearsal, the report said, but does indicate potential risks from such an attack.

"The results of the war game were particularly troubling to General James Mattis, who commands all American forces in the Middle East, Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia," the report said, citing unnamed officials familiar with the effort.

"When the exercise had concluded earlier this month, according to the officials, General Mattis told aides that an Israeli first strike would be likely to have dire consequences across the region and for United States forces there," it added.

The two-week simulation, dubbed Internal Look, highlighted a series of potential events in which "the United States found it was pulled into the conflict" after Iranian missiles struck a US Navy warship in the Gulf, killing about 200 Americans, according to officials with knowledge of the exercise.

The simulation indicated US forces would retaliate by carrying out its own strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, the report said.

The Islamic republic has been buffeted in recent months by ramped-up Western economic sanctions.

It has also been threatened with possible military action against its nuclear facilities by Israel and the United States.

Throughout, Tehran has maintained that its nuclear program is purely peaceful, denying Western suspicions -- largely echoed in a November report by the International Atomic Energy Agency -- that it was conducting military research towards designing nuclear weapons.

Iran says will hit back at any attack by Israel, US

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned on Tuesday his country would hit back at any attack by the United States or Israel, firming tensions in the showdown over Tehran's nuclear programme.

"We have said that we do not have atomic weapons and we will not build any. But if there is any attack by the enemies, whether it be United States or the Zionist regime, we will attack them at the same level as they attack us," he said in live televised speech to mark the start of the Iranian new year.

The comments reinforced Iran's position as it faces off against the West over its nuclear activities, and as it confronts Israeli and US threats of possible military action.

Khamenei, who was speaking in the western city of Mashhad, said Iran had a divine right to retaliate if struck.

"The Koran states that if an enemy attacks you first, the enemy will certainly be defeated," he said.

"This is God's law. We are not thinking of attacks and aggression, but we are attached to the existence and identity of the Islamic republic."