Revealing what he said were two sabotage attempts on his country's nuclear program, he challenged the perpetrators to launch new attacks, saying that his country is determined to learn how to protect its interests through such assaults.
The defiant speech was bound to give a greater voice to hardline Israeli leaders who say that both diplomatic efforts and economic penalties have had no effect on Iran, leaving military strikes as the only alternative to stopping it from developing nuclear weapons.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a proponent of such an option, made a direct appeal to American voters on Sunday to elect a president willing to draw a "red line" with Iran.
Iran has often warned that any Israeli attack would trigger a devastating response, and on Monday Abbasi suggested that such strikes would not succeed in slowing down his country's nuclear program. He said without elaboration that experts have "devised certain ways through which nuclear facilities remain intact under missile attacks and raids."
Tehran denies seeking nuclear arms, and Abbasi - an Iranian vice president whom the agency suspects may have been involved in nuclear-weapons research - insisted on Monday that his country's nuclear program is aimed only at making reactor fuel and doing medical research.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran ... has always opposed and will always denounce the manufacture and use of weapons of mass destruction," he said.
He cited what he said was an example of sabotage on Aug. 17 at an underground enrichment plant. It appeared to be the first mention of the alleged sabotage attack. The plant at Fordo, about 40 miles south of Tehran, is of particular concern to Israel because it is buried deep in a mountainside to protect it from assault. It also is being used to enrich uranium closer to the level needed for a nuclear warhead than what is used to power most industrial reactors.
A European Union statement warned of "deep concerns about possible military dimensions" to Iran's nuclear program.
