TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards will give a "severe" response if the Islamic Republic is attacked, the force's commander said on Tuesday.

"Iran's Revolutionary Guards today are in the best shape to defend the Islamic Republic and the Islamic revolution and that is why the enemy, with all its facilities, cannot confront us," Guards commander-in-chief Mohammad Ali Jafari was quoted as saying.

"If the enemy makes a strategic mistake (by attacking), the Revolutionary Guards are fully prepared to give a severe answer to the enemy," he was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

His comments followed a rumor in financial markets that Iranian nuclear sites had come under attack. A senior Iranian nuclear official denied there had been any attack.

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