Iran will "cut off hand" of any attacker: Ahmadinejad

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's army will "cut off the hand" of any attacker and is ready to fulfill its defensive duties, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday during an annual military parade.

Iran is embroiled in a row with the West over its nuclear ambitions. The United States, which says Iran is trying to build an atomic bomb, has said it wants a diplomatic resolution to the standoff but has not ruled out military action if that fails.

Iran's oil minister, speaking at a separate event on Wednesday, suggested the world's fourth largest crude exporter could use oil as a weapon if it was attacked.

Analysts have said that if Iran chose to stop oil flows, which top Iranian officials have threatened in the past, it would be a double-edged sword by squeezing world markets but also stemming the country's main source of export earnings.

"The army stands against any aggressor and will cut off its hand," the president said in a televised address before troops, tanks, missiles and other military hardware paraded pass.

He made a similar remark in last year's annual ceremony saying Iran would "cut off the hands of any aggressors."

Written above the president's podium were the words: "Peaceful nuclear technology is a fundamental and basic need for our country."

Ahmadinejad's statement this month that Iran had begun work to make nuclear fuel on an industrial scale drew condemnation from the West and was a snub to the U.N. Security Council which has demanded Tehran halt all such uranium enrichment work.