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Mojtaba Zolnour, the chairman of the Iranian parliament's national security commission, levied the shocking threat as Iran confirmed it has exceeding stockpiles of enriched uranium.

"If the US attacks us, only half an hour will remain of Israel's lifespan," he said, according to the the semi-official Mehr news agency.

Israel is a key ally of the US and one of Iran's biggest regional rivals in the delicate power game in playing out in the Middle East.

Tensions have been brewing since US President Donald Trump scrapped the so-called nuclear deal which managed Iran's uranium programme.

Iran says its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, including generating power.

And Israel, which Iran does not recognise, says the program presents it with an existential threat.

Iran's latest threat came as it confirmed its nuclear programme has breached the limit of its enriched uranium stockpile set in the deal brokered back in 2015.

Tehran defied a warning by European co-signatories to stick to the deal despite heavy US sanctions.

Foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif confirmed that Iran had exceeded the relevant limit of 300 kg of uranium hexafluoride (UF6).

However, foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Iran's steps to decrease its commitments to the nuclear deal were "reversible".

(Image: GETTY)

The International Atomic Energy agency (IAEA) said that its inspectors were verifying whether Iran had accumulated more enriched uranium than allowed.

"Our inspectors are on the ground and they will report to headquarters as soon as the LEU (low-enriched uranium) stockpile has been verified, a spokesman for the UN agency said.

Enriching uranium to a low level of 3.6% fissile material is the first step in a process that could eventually allow Iran to amass enough highly-enriched uranium to build a nuclear warhead.

Talks between Iran and European nations in Vienna collapsed on Friday, with Tehran saying they offered too little in the way of trade assistance to persuade it to back off from its plan to breach the limit.

(Image: GETTY)

(Image: GETTY)

Joseph Cohen, head of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, urged the international community to stop Iran from "stepping up enrichment".

"Just imagine what will happen if the material stockpiled by the Iranians becomes fissionable, at military enrichment grade, and then an actual bomb," he told the Herzliya security conference before Zarif's announcement.

"The Middle East, and then the entire world, will be a different place. Therefore, the world must not allow this to happen."

In May, Washington piled pressure on Tehran by ordering all countries to halt imports of Iranian oil, and tensions have been growing in the Gulf ever since.

Washington has dispatched extra forces to the Middle East, and US fighter jets came within minutes of conducting air strikes on Iran last month after Tehran downed an unmanned American drone and are accused of attacking tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

(Image: GETTY)

In a speech on Monday broadcast on state TV, Zarif said: "Iran will never yield to pressure from the United States. If they want to talk to Iran, they should show respect.

"Never threaten an Iranian. Iran has always resisted pressure, and has responded with respect when respected."

Trump has called for negotiations with Iran with "no preconditions", but Tehran has ruled out talks until the United States returns to the nuclear pact and drops its sanctions.

The US President has also repeatedly said he does not want war, and claimed he pulled back from a strike on Iran at the last minute as he was told 150 people would die.

Daily Star Online revealed a US invasion of Iran would take one million soldiers and potentially by quagmire which could last even longer than the Iraq War.