Hassan Rowhani, a former top nuclear negotiator who now heads an official think tank, ridiculed government claims that Iran was increasing its power and warned that its international situation was unfavourable.

His warnings counter the optimism of Ahmadinejad, who last week declared Iran had scored a "great victory" over world powers after the publication of the latest US intelligence report on the Iranian nuclear programme.

"A strategy of letter-writing and slogans cannot be an appropriate strategy for us to follow," Rowhani told the Jam-e Jam newspaper in an interview.

Ahmadinejad has shown a penchant for writing letters to world leaders such as US President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as making provocative soundbites on Iran's nuclear standoff with the West.

Rowhani said US military difficulties in Iraq and Afghanistan had created "golden opportunities for Iran.

"But the ninth government has not taken advantage of the opportunities created in the world and has not followed an appropriate strategy."

Asked if Ahmadinejad had been right to boast of Iran's growing power, Rowhani referred to a litany of US-led financial and other restrictions imposed on Tehran in the past two years.

"To discuss this, we should see the proof of power. The fact that we cannot open a letter of credit, is this power?

"The fact that an Iranian student cannot study abroad in (his or her) chosen field, is that power?

"The fact that the economic risks have grown, is that power?

"The fact that banking activities have been restricted, is that power?"

The mid-ranking cleric now heads an influential strategic think tank run by the Expediency Council, Iran's top political arbitration body.

The Council is headed by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad's top domestic political foe and his vanquished rival in the 2005 presidential elections.

The political temperature in Iran has heightened considerably ahead of March 14 parliamentary polls, with hardliners and moderates exchanging unusually explicit verbal blows over the government's performance.

Rowhani also complained that the government was ignoring the talents of "hundreds" of experienced diplomats and foreign policy experts.

"We do not have a proper strategy in foreign policy. We do not use our experts' experience properly," he concluded.

His comments come after a report by the US intelligence community published last week said Iran halted a nuclear weapons programme in 2003, undermining previous White House accusations and prompting a jubilant Ahmadinejad reaction.

The president has accused his opponents of being "traitors" for pressuring the government on the nuclear issue.

But former foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi also contradicted Ahmadinejad's optimism, saying that Tehran had to brace for a third UN Security Council sanctions resolution after the US intelligence report.

"I suppose the US officials will now go even further toward the sanctions and politicial pressure against our country and prepare grounds for the next resolution," he was quoted as saying by the Aftab-e Yazd newspaper.

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