World leaders to meet on Iran's failure to halt nuclear program

"However, they should know that if they are pursuing deception and mischief in our region again, the response of our nation will be the same definite response that we gave to the predecessors of these gentlemen," he said.

Ahmadinejad did not specify what he meant by returning Iranian wealth, but his remarks came a week after U.S. federal prosecutors moved to seize several U.S. assets allegedly controlled by entities linked to the Iranian government, including a skyscraper in New York City and a mosque, an Islamic school and land near Washington. Prosecutors linked the properties to a network that allegedly includes an Iranian bank identified as a key financier of Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as a New-York based organization called the Alavi Foundation that U.S. authorities have long suspected was an Iranian front.

In Manila, meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki dismissed the threat of further sanctions against Iran over its uranium enrichment program.

"Sanction was the literature of the '60s and '70s," he told a news conference during a visit to the Philippines. "I think they are wise enough not to repeat failed experiences," he said through an interpreter in reference to world powers. "Of course, it's totally up to them."

Mottaki confirmed that Iran wants any swap of enriched uranium to occur in Iran as a condition for pursuing a deal on fuel for its research reactor.

"Iran raises its readiness in order to have further talks within the framework which is presented," he said, Reuters news agency reported. "It's not our proposal to have a swap. They raised such a proposal, and we described and talked about how it could be operationalized."

Although the remarks were being widely interpreted as Iranian rejection of the deal it tentatively accepted in Geneva, Russia said Thursday it still has not seen a final response from Iran and appeared to contradict Obama on sanctions.

"As far as we know, there has so far been no final official answer from Tehran," Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said in a statement. "There is currently no discussion on working out additional sanctions against Iran."

Erdbrink reported from Tehran.