Iran president attacks US war plans

"We wish to caution the great powers against further interference in the affairs of this region and against the exacerbation of the flames of war," he said.

"We live in a very frightening situation... we have witnessed that war has never been so much promoted in the US."

Mr Khatami, speaking to journalists while on a visit to Malaysia, added that the current Bush administration's policy of a sharp divide between good and evil nation states was "neither in the interest of the US nor in the interest of today's world".

He also said that the US did not have the right to choose leadership for the Iraqi people, arguing that it was for them to decide.

Speculation has grown over an imminent attack on Iraq by the US after reported plans for an attack on Saddam Hussein's regime were leaked to the New York Times newspaper.

Dialogue 'abandoned'

The Iranian leader's comments come as the Washington Post newspaper reported that the US Government had largely abandoned attempts at dialogue with Mr Khatami, preferring instead to encourage popular support for democracy among the Iranian people.

The shift occurred following an intensive review over whether to adopt a more forceful position towards a country branded part of an "axis of evil" by US President George W Bush, the paper said.

A senior official told the paper that the administration had tired of what it saw as a lack of concerted effort by Mr Khatami's foreign policy advisers to introduce a concerted programme of reform.

"We have made a conscious decision to associate with the aspirations of Iranian people," the official said.

"We will not play, if you like, the factional politics of reform versus hard-line."