"We don’t want a conflict with Iran, we have got enough on our plate doing other things," he said in an interview that is due to be broadcast on the Arabic channel on Monday.

"Nobody is targeting Iran," the Prime Minister said. "People are simply worried because they appear to be in breach of their nuclear obligations and because they are supporting terrorism around the Middle East."

Earlier today, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran accused Iran’s foreign enemies of trying to provoke ethnic tensions inside the Islamic republic as a way of undermining the country’s nuclear programme.

The President said it was "natural that our enemies" -- usually a reference to the US and Israel – conspired against Iran.

The threat of possible military action hangs over the Islamic country after it refused to stop developing nuclear technology, insisting it needed to meet soaring energy demand. But the US and some of its Western allies believe Iran could use the technology to develop an atomic bomb.

While pursuing diplomatic channels, the US refuses to exclude a military option. But the Prime Minister appeared to rule out such an option at this time. Mr Blair gave warning, however, that Iran must comply with international demands to halt nuclear activities.

He denied anyone was "out to get Iran" and said all the international community wanted was for the country to stop supporting terrorism and, in particular, stop stoking insurgency in Iraq – a charge Iran denies.

"If Iran goes out of its way... to breach its international obligations, of course the international community through the UN Security Council has got to take up the issue," Mr Blair said in the interview.

Both the US and British leaders have seen their popularity ratings take a beating as it proves difficult to bring the spiralling Iraq crisis under control. Military sources in Britain are worried the army is already overstretched with 13,000 British troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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