President Barack Obama''s administration will seek to end Iran''s nuclear ambition and its support for terrorism, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Thursday — drawing an immediate rebuke from Iran''s envoy.

Ambassador Mohammad Khazee said the statement contained "the same tired, unwarranted and groundless allegations that used to be unjustifiably and futiley repeated by the previous U.S. administration" of President George W. Bush.

Iran has never and will never try to acquire nuclear weapons, Khazee said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council immediately after U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice spoke. He also dismissed the charge that Iran engages in terrorism as "baseless and absurd."

Iran insists it is enriching uranium to produce nuclear energy for civilian purposes, but the U.S. and many European countries accuse Tehran of secretly seeking to build nuclear weapons.

Rice brought up Iran at an open meeting of the Security Council on Iraq, saying the long-term U.S. commitment to Iraq and the reduction of the U.S. military presence there had to be understood "in a larger, regional context" that included Afghanistan, the Middle East and Iran.

The United States "will seek an end to Iran''s ambition to acquire an illicit nuclear capacity and its support for terrorism," Rice said, adding that the U.S. will aim to encourage both Iran and Syria to become "constructive regional actors."