Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.

Cheney endorsed McCain's stance in an interview with The Australian daily newspaper. The Iranian people are vigilant and will defend all their rights to the end. And speaking at a joint news conference with Australian PM John Howard, he also spoke of US concerns about Tehran's nuclear ambitions and warned that "all options are on the table" in terms of how the US would respond.

"They have made some fairly inflammatory statements, " he said. "They appear to be pursuing the development of nuclear weapons."

Cheney spoke of concern at Iran's "fairly aggressive" role in the Middle East and its flouting of a UN deadline to stop uranium enrichment.

Permanent UN Security Council members and Germany will meet on Monday to discuss further sanctions against Iran following its decision to ignore last Thursday's deadline.

On Friday, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran will defend its nuclear programme to the end, and must not show weakness "in front of the enemy". "The Iranian people are vigilant and will defend all their rights to the end, " Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying at a rally in northern Iran.

The IAEA concluded in a report on Thursday that Iran was expanding rather than halting its enrichment programme, defying a 2006 UN resolution. Iran says the UN call for it to stop uranium enrichment has no legal basis. Tehran denies western claims it is secretly trying to build nuclear arms, saying its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful, energy-producing purposes.