A top Iranian general said Wednesday that, contrary to speculation, the US and Israel were not behind a weekend munitions base blast that killed 17 Revolutionary Guards including a key ballistics missile expert.

"The recent blast has nothing to do with Israel or America," General Hassan Firouzabadi, the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.

He was confirming the Iranian description of the explosion as an "accident" and implicitly rejecting suggestions in Israeli and Western media that it might have been a covert military operation by Israel or the United States.

Firouzabadi said Saturday's blast at the base in Bid Ganeh, outside Tehran, slowed down development of an undisclosed military "product".

"It has only delayed by two weeks the manufacturing of an experimental product by the (Revolutionary) Guards which could be a strong fist in the face of arrogance (the United States) and the occupying regime (Israel)," he was quoted as saying.

Saturday's explosion killed General Hassan Moqaddam, the head of the Revolutionary Guards unit responsible for industrial research to ensure weapons self-sufficiency.

Moqaddam specialised in artillery during the 1980s Iraq-Iran war before founding the force's ballistics programme, according to information provided by officials in Tehran.

Guards spokesman Ramezan Sharif said the blast occurred as munitions were being moved out of the base to another site. He did not say why Moqaddam was present.

Set up after the 1979 Islamic revolution, the Guards are in charge of Iran's missile programme, including Shahab-3 ballistic missiles with a range of 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) capable of hitting Israel.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has hailed the deadly munitions blast and said he hoped for more such incidents.

Time magazine said the explosion was the work of the Israeli spy agency Mossad, citing an unidentified "Western intelligence source."

Iran has in the past has accused Israel of carrying out covert attacks on its soil, notably the assassinations of two of its nuclear scientists in Tehran in 2010.

US mulling action against Iran central bank: Official
Washington (AFP) Nov 15, 2011 - The United States is weighing new sanctions aimed at Iran's central bank but must tread carefully to avoid handing Tehran unintended gains or alienating young Iranians, US officials said Tuesday.

"That proposal or idea has not been abandoned. It's very much on the table as are all options that we could take that would credibly and meaningfully impact Iran," said the US Treasury Department's point-man on sanctions, Adam Szubin.

But Szubin told a House of Representatives committee that Washington was not yet ready to act, as officials studied the proposal to ensure it does not result in a rise in the price of oil, which would boost Iran's cash reserves.

"I'm trying to figure out what price per gallon are we not willing to pay" to keep Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, said Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz, who was chairing a hearing into US policy towards Iran.

"If there's a spike in the price of oil, Iran could be facing a windfall," explained Szubin, who warned of "plausible scenarios in which there could be profound harm to the global economic recovery and a windfall to Iran."

"I don't think that's what any of us are looking for," he said, warning that such a result would make such sanctions "worse than useless."

Acting US Deputy Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Henry Wooster cautioned that tougher sanctions aimed at hurting Iran's population in an attempt to boost political pressure on their leaders could backfire by angering young Iranians who "think very favorably of the United States."

"We need to be careful in a lot of what we do to make sure that we're, you know, not alienating a group of individuals that we want to work with and have relationship with over the long term as long as they can stop being held hostage by their government," he said.

"In terms of a tipping point, I can't offer you an exact point on the curve where that is located. But there is (one)," he said.

Wooster acknowledged congressional concerns that Chinese firms are weakening economic sanctions on Iran by filling the vacuum left by departing Western firms but cautioned "there just aren't easy responses to that."

"To date, we can report that what we are seeing is satisfactory. We continue to keep an eye on it. We continue to discuss it" with the Chinese, said Wooster.