Iran will strike U.S. troops if attacked - army chief

"If America presents Iran with a serious threat and undertakes any measure against Iran, none of the American soldiers who are currently in the region would go back to America alive," Major General Hassan Firouzabadi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.

His comments intensified hostile rhetoric in a week when U.S. President Barack Obama excluded Iran from a new policy restricting the use of U.S. nuclear weapons.

Obama is urging U.N. Security Council members to back new sanctions in the coming weeks to pressure Iran to curb a nuclear programme which the West fears could lead it to make nuclear weapons.

Iran has also repeatedly warned Israel -- which has hinted it could use military strikes against Iran's nuclear activities -- that it would respond militarily to any attack.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a military ceremony, Firouzabadi said a strike on Iran would also put oil supplies at risk.

"If America wants to have the region's oil and its markets then the region's markets would be taken away from America and the Muslims' control over oil would increase," he said, according to state broadcaster IRIB.

Pressure on Iran could increase next week when Obama will host a summit on nuclear security to be attended by the leaders of China and Russia -- the two Security Council veto holders he has been courting to support new U.N. sanctions.

(Reporting by Hashem Kalantari; writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Angus MacSwan)