"I do not think Israel will make such a stupid move because it knows full well how we will respond," Hassan Rowhani told a news conference.

"Our response will be painful to Israel," he said, but dismissed all talks of an Israeli attack as "propaganda".

Last month Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Iran was "probably the main existential threat" to his country.

Both Israel and the United States suspect Iran is developing nuclear weapons under cover of a effort to generate nuclear energy. In 1981, Israel attacked an Iraqi nuclear facility, and there has been specualtion it may consider doing the same for Iran -- which continues to call for the destruction of the Jewish state.

Rowhani's comments came as he answered to new revelations from the UN nuclear watchdog that bolstered suspicions over the Islamic republic's shadowy atomic energy programme.

WAR.WIRE