TEHRAN - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the United States does not seek a war with Iran, amid rapidly growing tensions between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has also said there will be no war with the U.S.

Speaking during a trip to Russia, where he met President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Pompeo said the U.S. “fundamentally” did not seek a conflict with Iran, Al-Jazeera reported.

In remarks carried on state media and on his Twitter account, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei repeated Tehran's position that it would not negotiate with the U.S. on a nuclear deal to replace the one President Donald Trump withdrew from last year.

On Monday, President Hassan Rouhani told a meeting with clerics that Iran was "too great to be intimidated by anyone", saying: "God willing we will pass this difficult period with glory and our heads held high, and defeat the enemy."

"No possible confrontation or warlike action is envisaged (by Spain) and it is for this reason that the participation is suspended for the moment," the spokesman added.

On Tuesday, President Trump dismissed a New York Times report suggesting the military had plans to send up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East should Iran attack U.S. forces there.

"We have not planned for that. Hopefully we're not going to have to plan for that. And if we did that, we'd send a hell of a lot more troops than that," Trump said.

SP/