“They (Western powers) say that you (Iran) must provide fuel for the Tehran reactor the way we say and, if you don’t do this, we will punish you,” the Mehr news agency quoted Larijani as saying.

“But they know this is a political swindle and that they are trying to ensure Iran’s enriched uranium” is removed from the Islamic republic.

Larijani and other Iranian officials have repeatedly criticised the proposed deal since it was first discussed in Vienna in October with France, Russia and the United States.

Drafted by the UN nuclear watchdog, the deal envisages Iran sending most of its stockpiles of low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad before receiving fuel for the Tehran reactor from France and Russia.

Iranian officials have expressed concern that Western governments might welch on the deal and have called for the LEU stocks to be shipped abroad in phases as Iran receives the fuel.

But for Western governments the prior shipping abroad of most of Iran’s stocks is the central element of the deal as they are concerned that otherwise Iran might covertly further enrich the LEU to weapons grade.

Iranian officials strongly deny any ambition to develop a nuclear weapons capability.

The comments from Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator, marked a sharp hardening of tone from remarks in Germany by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki just the previous day.

“With regard to discussions with the different parties, I personally believe that we have created conducive ground for such an exchange in the not very distant future,” Mottaki told the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

“Under the present conditions that we have reached, I think that we are approaching a final agreement that can be accepted by all parties,” he said.

He added that Iran “has shown it is serious about doing this, and we have shown it at the highest level.”

He was referring to remarks by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said in a television interview on Tuesday that Iran would have “no problem” sending abroad its stocks of LEU.

“There is really no problem,” Ahmadinejad said.

“Some made a fuss for nothing. There is no problem. We sign a contract. We give them 3.5 percent (enriched uranium) and it will take four or five months for them to give us the 20 percent (enriched uranium).”