Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards warned the United States against attacking the Islamic Republic, a news agency reported on Monday, two days after the United Nations imposed new sanctions on Iran.

Special coverage: Iran Nuke Issue Related readings: Blair calls capture of sailors 'serious' Iran seizes 15 British sailors Khamenei: Iran would retaliate if attackedMajor powers closer to Iran sanctions Iran denies halt to uranium enrichment FM calls for Iran, IAEA cooperation

International tension over Iran's disputed nuclear programme has risen further in recent days, sending oil and gold prices higher. The West suspects Iran is seeking to make atom bombs, a charge Tehran denies.

Iran said on Sunday it would limit cooperation with the UN's nuclear watchdog and vowed not to halt its atomic plans "even for one second" after the UN Security Council voted to impose new arms and financial sanctions on Tehran.

The United States, leading efforts to isolate Iran over its nuclear ambitions, has said it prefers a diplomatic solution to the crisis but has not ruled out military options.

"If America starts a war against Iran, it won't be the one who finishes it," Morteza Saffari, naval forces commander of the Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

"Our people will not even allow one American soldier to enter our country," he said in the southwestern city of Shoush.

The Revolutionary Guards is the ideologically-driven wing of Iran's armed forces, with a separate command structure from that of the regular military.

Naval Guards units on Friday seized 15 British navy personnel in the Gulf, sparking a diplomatic crisis.

Iran Rejects UN Demands

Iran has said it was considering charging the sailors and marines, captured in the Shatt al-Arab waterway marking the southern stretch of its border with Iraq, for entering Iranian waters. Britain says they were detained inside Iraqi territory.

A British diplomat in Tehran said on Monday Britain had requested another meeting between its ambassador, Geoffrey Adams, and Foreign Ministry officials to press for the group's release as well as access to them.

"We are hoping for more contact today with them (Iranian officials)," the diplomat said.

A day after the Britons' detention, the UN Security Council approved the sanctions for Tehran's refusal to suspend its nuclear programme, but major powers offered new talks and renewed an economic and technological incentive package offer.

The resolution goes beyond the nuclear sphere by banning Iranian arms exports and freezing financial assets abroad of 28 individuals and entities, including state-owned Bank Sepah and the commanders of the Revolutionary Guards.

The sanctions will stay in place until Iran halts the enrichment of uranium and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, which can be used to make a bomb or to generate power. Iran has 60 days to comply or face possible new sanctions.

"Iran will not stop its peaceful and legal nuclear trend even for one second because of such an illegal resolution," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on his Web site www.president.ir on Sunday.