Tehran, May 2 (Reuters): Iran threatened today to attack Israel in response to any “evil” act by the US and said it had enriched uranium to a level close to the maximum compatible with civilian use in power stations.

The defiant statements were issued before world powers meet in Paris to discuss the next steps after Tehran rejected a UN call to halt uranium enrichment.

Senior officials from the UN Security Council’s permanent members ? Britain, China, France, Russia and the US ? plus Germany will discuss how to curb an Iranian programme that western nations say conceals a drive for atomic warheads.

Driving home that message, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, said his country had now succeeded in purifying uranium to 4.8 per cent, at the top end of the 3 to 5 per cent range for fuel used in nuclear power plants. Iran has previously said it had enriched to more than 4 per cent, far below the 80 per cent level needed for bomb-making.

The US and Israel have vowed to deny Iran nuclear weapons. Washington has not excluded war if diplomacy fails.

“We have announced that wherever America does something evil, the first place that we target will be Israel,” Isna quoted a senior Revolutionary Guards commander, Rear Admiral Mohammad-Ebrahim Dehqani, as saying today.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has urged the Jewish state to be “wiped off the map”. Iran’s deputy oil minister said there was “some possibility” of a US attack on his country over its nuclear programme.

The US, Britain and France are expected to introduce a resolution to the Security Council this week that would legally oblige Iran to comply with UN demands. The three countries favour limited sanctions if Tehran remains defiant.