(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-22 20:07

The parade came amid growing tensions over Iran's nuclear programme, which the United States alleges is cover for a nuclear weapons drive but which Tehran insists is aimed solely at producing electricity.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has warned that the world should brace for war against Tehran if it keeps defying the UN Security Council by pressing on with sensitive nuclear work.

But the head of the elite Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jaafari, warned Iran's enemies: "They would surely have a bitter experience in Iran, which is the cradle of defence civilization."

Iran's military, especially its air force, has been hit by the US trade embargo, and Jaafari admitted that the Islamic republic would need to outsmart its enemies through means other than technology.

"Their material capabilities are better than us, everyone knows it and we admit it. We are responding to technology not with technology but with special methods and tactics," he told reporters.

Officials at the parade said that only weapons built by Iran were shown at the parade, in a bid to emphasise the country's self-sufficiency in military technology.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meanwhile said in a speech to the parade that Iran was a force for peace in the region.

"Iran is an influential power in the region and the world, and the world should know that this power has always served peace, stability, brotherhood and justice."

The full panoply of Iran's armed forces were on display, with thousands of members of the regular army and the elite Revolutionary Guards saluting Ahmadinejad and top military leaders in a march-past.

The United States and its ally Israel have never ruled out using military strikes to punish Iran for its defiance in the nuclear standoff.

Iran has said it will never initiate an attack, but has warned of striking US bases in the Arabian peninsula, Iraq and Afghanistan -- as well as Israel itself -- as a response to any aggression.

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