Iran on Sunday rejected Israel's recent allegation on Tehran's nuclear program, saying that access to nuclear weapons has no place in Iran's defense policies.

"Such moves of the Zionist regime are not new. The problem is the regime's expansionist policies and inhuman measures," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi was quoted as saying.

"The Israelis' remarks are aimed at putting a cover on their crimes. The Zionist regime which itself has a vast number of nuclear weapons should not permit itself to decide for other countries," Asefi said.

"The world does not regard the Zionist regime's claims as serious," Asefi stressed.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told Reuters on Friday in Mexico City that Iran was very close to having the knowledge to develop a nuclear bomb, terming it as a "nightmare.

"The United States and Israel have accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons secretly, urging to refer Tehran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council and threatening to launch preemptive attacks on the country's nuclear facilities.

Iran denied the accusation and vowed to counterattack any aggressive moves.

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2005)