Iran's supreme¹ leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has denied Western claims that Iran intends to develop nuclear arms.

伊朗最高领导人Ayatollah Ali Khamenei否认了西方国家关于伊朗想要发展核武器的说法。

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The US remains anti-Iranian, said Ayatollah Khamenei

His comments come days after the US said it was modifying its plans for defences against Iranian missiles and shelving a long-range missile shield.

Western powers believe Iran is developing nuclear weapons under the guise³ of（在……的幌子下） a civilian⁴ programme.

Six world powers are to hold talks with Iran on 1 October that are expected to cover global nuclear disarmament（核裁军）.

Ayatollah Khamenei's comments were seen as the first official response to the US decision to scrap⁵ a European missile initiative put forward by the former Bush administration to counter any long-range Iranian missile threat.

US President Barack Obama said the US would instead develop sea and land-based interceptors（拦截，阻止者） against Iran's short and medium-range missile threat.

But Ayatollah Khamenei said that the US knew it was "wrong" when it asserted（宣称的） that Tehran was pursuing a covert⁶（隐蔽的，秘密的） nuclear bomb.

"We fundamentally reject nuclear weapons and prohibit（禁止，阻止） the production and the use of nuclear weapons," he said in a speech broadcast on state television.

Israeli assurance

Iran has always denied assertions from the US, Israel and other European powers that it is seeking to build nuclear arms.

Tehran insists its uranium enrichment initiative is for a purely⁷ peaceful civilian nuclear energy programme.

Meanwhile Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that Israel had assured him that it had no plans to attack Iran.

Mr Medvedev told US network CNN that Israeli President Shimon Peres gave the assurance during a visit to Moscow at the end of August.

According to a transcript⁸ of an interview released by the Kremlin, he said such a strike would cause a "humanitarian⁹ disaster" and be "the worst thing that can be imagined".

"My Israeli colleagues told me they were not planning to act in this way, and I trust them," he said.

The United States, Russia, the UK, France, China and Germany are set to attend international talks with Iran on 1 October.

The EU says it expects the meeting to take place in Turkey.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said Iran must answer concerns about its nuclear programme at the talks "head on".

But Ayatollah Khamenei said US accusations¹⁰（指责，谴责） that Iran was "producing nuclear weapons" were "false".

"Despite friendly messages and words", the current US government was anti-Iranian, he said.

He also said the West must revise its policy.

"They must correct this," he said. "The Iranian nation is alert".

"They see and understand animosities（憎恶，仇恨） and stand against them. The Islamic republic will not retreat."