Ahmadinejad told cheering supporters in a speech in Sari, the capital of the northern Mazandaran province, that Europe was seeking to thwart Iran's nuclear programme and not just ensure that it was peaceful.

"If you (Europeans) continue making efforts to halt the progress of the Iranian nuclear programme and if you take any step against the Iranian nation's rights, either in propoganda or international bodies, the Islamic republic will consider this an act of hostility.

"And if you continue with this, the Iranian nation will revise the direction of its path and its plans related to you," he added in the speech broadcast on state television.

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