Iran's foreign minister said on Thursday that Tehran was "prepared for the worst" and warned the US against putting itself on "collision course" with his country. On the sidelines of a news conference in the Libyan city of Benghazi, minister Ali Akbar Salehi was asked about news reports of US accelerating plans for a strike on Iran over its controverial nuclear programme .

"The US has unfortunately lost wisdom and prudence in dealing with international issues. It depends only on power. They have lost rationality ; we are prepared for the worst but we hope they will think twice before they put themselves on a collision course with Iran," Salehi said. US and Western powers suspect Tehran is seeking to build nuke weapons, a charge Iran denies. It says its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful ends.