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An Iranian soldier stands guard on a military speed boat during a navy exercise

Iran’s senior navy commander has denied the country has already test-fired long-range missiles during a drill – but said it would do so in the next few days.

It had been reported that the Islamic Republic had fired the weapons – which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads – on Saturday.

But commander Mahmoud Mousavi rejected these claims, saying “the exercise of launching missiles will be carried out in the coming days”.

Iran is currently holding 10 days of large-scale naval war games in the Gulf after threatening to close shipping lanes if the West imposes sanctions on its oil exports.

Senior navy officers reportedly said ground-to-sea, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles would be tested in the Gulf of Oman at the southern end of the Persian Gulf.

Earlier this week, Tehran said it could stop traffic through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if it became the target of an oil export embargo over its nuclear ambitions.

Meanwhile, Iran’s ambassador to Germany says his country will propose a new round of talks with the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

Ambassador Ali Reza Sheikh Attar says the country’s top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, is to send a letter to EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to arrange a new round of negotiations.

The last round of negotiations between Iran and the six powers in January in Istanbul, Turkey, ended in failure.

Tehran says it needs nuclear technology to generate electricity, but the West fears Iran’s nuclear programme is geared toward making atomic weapons.

Iran has been hit by foreign sanctions, including four rounds of UN sanctions, over its refusal to halt its sensitive nuclear work.