Updated

A top official with Iran's most powerful military force — the Revolutionary Guard — says Tehran will "blow up the heart of Israel" if the Jewish state or the United States attacked Iran.

"Even if one American or Zionist missile hits our country, before the dust settles, Iranian missiles will blow up the heart of Israel," the IRNA news agency quoted Mojtaba Zolnour as saying.

Zolnour is the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's representative in the Guard.

"The Zionist regime and the United States cannot risk attacking Iran," Zolnour said in the holy Shi'ite city of Qom, citing Iranian military and technological advances, Reuters reported.

Anti-Israeli stance is common for the hardline Guard, and President Mahmoud Ahmadienjad has often called for Israel's destruction.

But Zolnour appears to be ratcheting up the rhetoric ahead of the next round of talks with the West this month over Iran's controversial uranium enrichment.

Earlier this year, a senior commander said Iranian missiles could reach Israeli nuclear sites. Israel is believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.