"His comments are thoughtless and it is better that any statement made in this regard take a constructive approach," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying.

General David Petraeus, head of US Central Command (CENTCOM) that oversees the Middle East, told CNN on Sunday that Iran's nuclear facilities "certainly can be bombed," even though they are reported to be heavily fortified.

"The level of effect would vary with who it is that carries it out, what ordnance they have, and what capability they can bring to bear," Petraeus added.

Petraeus said the United States had contingency plans to address Iran's nuclear ambitions if negotiations falter between the Islamic republic and Western nations.

"It would be almost literally irresponsible if CENTCOM were not to have been thinking about the various 'what ifs' and to make plans for a whole variety of different contingencies," he told the broadcaster.

But he would not comment on reports that Israel, which says Iran presents an existential threat to the Jewish state, may attack its arch-foe's nuclear facilities.

Tehran is at loggerheads with Western nations, which believe it is developing nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear energy programme. Iran denies the charges.

Without elaborating on the contingency plans, Petraeus said it could be some time before Washington decides whether to execute them and that diplomatic efforts would continue in the meantime.

The United States is leading efforts to impose a fourth round of UN sanctions on Iran after it failed to meet an end-of-year deadline to accept a deal offered by five permanent UN Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany.

Iran has given the West until the end of January to accept its own proposal of a gradual swap of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) for further-enriched uranium to fuel a Tehran research reactor.

Mehmanparast reiterated that Iran was ready for "staged swap."

The UN deal, however, envisages the shipment of most of Iran's LEU abroad to be further refined into reactor fuel by Russia and France.

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