Retired Gen Mirza Aslam Beg said he suggested Iran's government "make it clear that if anything happens to Iran, if anyone attacks it . . . it doesn't matter who it is or how it is attacked . . . that Iran's answer will be to hit Israel; the only target will be Israel".

Since Beg spoke in an interview, echoes of his thinking have been heard in Iran, though whether they result directly from his advice isn't known. Mohammad Ebrahim Dehghani, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, was quoted last week as saying that if "America does make any mischief, the first place we target will be Israel".

The threat was disavowed the following day by Brig Gen Alireza Afshar, deputy to the chief of Iran's military staff, who said it was Dehghani's "personal view and has no validity as far as the Iranian military officials are concerned".

Israel's vice premier, Shimon Peres, has warned that "those who threaten to destroy are in danger of being destroyed".

Beg said a delegation from the Iranian embassy in Pakistan had come to his office in January, seeking advice as western pressure mounted on the country to abandon its nuclear effort.

However, Ephraim Asculai, a former senior official with the Israel Atomic Agency Commission, has stated that he doesn't think Beg's comments reflect official Pakistani policy. Pakistan is now an ally of the United States in the 'war on terrorism', and "Pakistani government officials have often suggested that they would be willing to have ties with Israel under certain conditions, " he said.