TEHRAN -- Minister of Defense Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani here Monday warned that Americans are trying to weaken considerably the confidence of the Iranian people and social groups to the government structure and to the ideology dominating the country's political establishment.

Shamkhani told IRNA that U.S. statesmen are following under present conditions special propagandistic procedures to politically delegitimize the power structure and political groups in the country.

He said the White House is attempting to revive the model of 'civil disobedience' and create discord between the Iranian government and nation.

He stressed the need for confidence building and reinforcement of political legitimacy in Iran so as to foil U.S. objectives.

The minister said 'civil resistance' is yet another way to raise the society's readiness to confront the U.S. threats.

He said the strategy can enhance resistance to foreign threats and create the atmosphere for deterrence in the society.

Elsewhere in his interview, Shamkhani said military forces and defense units should be prepared for eventualities.

Civil resistance can serve as a factor to counter political and social dereliction, said the minister, adding that in political and social fields civil resistance would prepare the ground for promotion of readiness to fight any dereliction.

Application of the strategy will lead to a procedure that would change political campaign against the U.S. in Iran from structural form, and draw it to social scenes.

Under such conditions, the U.S. hope for activating the destablizing groups in Iran's political structure would diminish, said Shamkhani.

He called for further convergence among the social and political groups and their refusal to be drawn into any differences that would divide them in their campaign against the U.S. strategy of civil disobedience.

He said allegations, levelled by certain political groups against each other, would harm reinforcement of the process for civil resistance in Iranian community.

He called on the political groups within the system to set aside factional differences in the present sensitive conditions and think on national interest and security.

He said the U.S. attitude in the past couple of months provide evidence that the country's policies against Iran are gradually turning into hostility. The U.S. strategy of 'pressure from inside and bargaining from outside', once devised against Iran, shows obvious changes, said Shamkhani, adding, "they (the U.S. statesmen) have now brought new faces on the diplomatic scene."

Opposition groups have considerably become active outside the country, said Shamkhani. He added that even the Marxist groups, which once followed an anti-imperialistic approach, are now mobilized to support U.S. President George W. Bush's stance.

He said evidence shows that the U.S. intelligence and security apparatus have taken extensive measures to coordinate and mobilize the opposition groups outside Iran to stand against the Islamic Republic of Iran's political and structural objectives.

Presently, he said, certain domestic forces, who were once considered by American strategists as 'models of change from within' have lost their efficiency. He added that due to the same reason, the groups outside the country are continuously mobilized and broad spectrum of elements outside the country have been added to the body of the present structures.

These components reveal that the U.S. strategy vis-a-vis Iran calls for 'pressure from outside and explosion from inside', said Shamkhani.

The change in the U.S. tactics shows the fact that the U.S. strategists have, after years of false belief in the difference between senior Iranian officials and the country's political echelon on prime principles of the Islamic Revolution, found out that the unique and irrevocable doctrine of independence is still supported by the said groups.

He said public presence on different scenes, including their participation in elections and rallies, stand as symbol of political participation. He added that stronger presence on the scene and enhanced participation would raise the legitimacy of the political system.

In this field, the Islamic Republic of Iran needs to coordinate its goals with social expectations, he said.

Shamkhani said the Iranian society under present sensitive conditions needs a 'soft power', which calls for enhancement of public participation and legitimacy of the government.

To repel foreign threats it is required to mobilize the public and have them contribute to the procedures related to the political power, he said.

The more the society is ready for contribution and the more the public's frozen energy is guided in the way to confront foreign threats, the stronger national strength and cohesion to counter foreign threats would be, he said.

Asked to comment on Iran's position on likely invasion of the U.S. on Iraq, Shamkhani said the Islamic Republic of Iran would not under any condition cooperate with aggressors on Iraq due to its firm principles on relations with the neighbors.

The Islamic Republic of Iran considers it as the right of Iraqi people to decide their country's future status and conditions, he said.

Non-interference in internal affairs of independent political units is the most evident sign of observation of country's right of sovereignty, said Shamkhani, adding that the important issue -- as the firm principle in Iran's foreign policy towards other countries -- would be irrevocable, IRNA reported.