His comments and the missile test came only days before a Thursday deadline imposed by the United Nations for Tehran to suspend the enrichment of uranium, a process the United States says the Iranians intend to use to build nuclear weapons. Enrichment can produce both reactor fuel and material for a warhead.

The Thaqeb, Farsi for Saturn is Iran's first missile that is fired from underwater and flies above the surface to hit its target, distinguishing it from a torpedo. A brief video showed the missile exiting the water and hitting a target less than a mile away.

While the missile showed some technological advances by Iran, its main importance seemed to be that it gives the country another means for targeting ships, along with the arsenal of torpedoes and other anti-ship missiles it already has.

Iran, which says its nuclear program is only aimed at generating electricity, has refused any immediate suspension and called the deadline illegal, though it says it is open to negotiations.

Ahmadinejad insisted Iran's nuclear program was peaceful and said he saw no reason to give it up.

"The great decision of the Iranian nation for progress and acquiring technology is a definite decision. There is no way back from this path," he said in a speech on national television after giving awards to 14 nuclear officials and scientists.

He said the United States should give up nuclear technology because it could not be trusted with it, having developed and used nuclear weapons.

Israel recently purchased two German-made Dolphin submarines capable of carrying nuclear warheads - clearly aiming to send a message to Tehran that it could strike back. The purchase beefs up Israel's deterrent power, since the subs can remain submerged for longer periods of time than the three nuclear arms-capable submarines already in Israel's fleet.

Israel is believed to have hundreds of warheads, the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, but it has kept the information secret and refuses to confirm or deny the reports.

The test-firing of the new missile underlines a card Iran can play in the nuclear standoff with the West - the ability to disrupt oil tanker shipments in the Gulf, through which about two-fifths of the world's oil supplies pass.

Iran has given mixed signals over how it would retaliate if the confrontation with the United States escalates. The oil minister and other government officials have said Iran would never attack Gulf tankers - but the interior minister warned in March that all options for retaliation are open and noted Iran's strategic position over Gulf traffic.

The test took place during large-scale military exercises that Iran has been holding since Aug. 19. It was the latest in a series of new naval weapons Iran has unveiled this year to tout what it calls its new technological prowess in arms production.

The Iranian naval commander, Gen. Sajjad Kouchaki, said the Thaqeb could be fired from any vessel, not just submarines. He called it a "long-range" missile but did not specify how far it could fly, and it did not appear capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

He also said the Thaqeb could escape enemy radar - a claim Iran made about a number of weapons it unveiled during military maneuvers in April. Some outside experts have questioned whether the weapons, tested against Iranian radar, would really be undetectable to more advanced U.S. radar.

During the April maneuvers, Iran test-fired a new torpedo - the "Hoot," Farsi for "whale" - which is capable of moving at some 223 mph, up to four times faster than a normal torpedo. It also unveiled a new land-to-sea missile, the Kowsar, and a high-speed missile boat that skims above the water and is undetectable by radar.

Iran is known to have several submarines. It bought at least two diesel subs from Russia in the 1990s and has produced an unknown number of locally made ones. Last year, it announced it was building a new class of sub called the Ghadir, which it said was a stealth craft and could fire missiles and torpedoes. Nothing more is known about the craft.

Iran says the weaponry is intended to defend itself against the possibility of a U.S. attack. It has also expressed worry about Israeli threats to destroy its nuclear facilities.

Iran already is equipped with the Shahab-3 missile, which means "shooting star" in Farsi, and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. An upgraded version of the ballistic missile has a range of more than 1,200 miles and can reach Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East.

But any conclusive deal is threatened by the continued absence from the talks of the LRA leader Joseph Kony and three of his top commanders. They fear arrest under warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has indicted them on charges including murder, rape and abducting and conscripting 25,000 children. Britain is strongly supporting the ICC's refusal to withdraw the warrants.

"It's clear that these warrants are impacting the chances of peace," said Zachary Lomo, the former head of the Refugee Law Project at Makerere University in Kampala, who called Britain's stance "unhelpful".

"This is a choice between letting more than a million people go home or maintaining the status quo in the hope of staging a largely symbolic trial."

His comments reflect the broad sentiment in northern Uganda, where the conflict has emptied most of the fertile countryside and left nearly 2 million people reliant on food aid.

Norbert Mao, a former MP and current chairman of Gulu district council, one of the worst affected areas, said Britain should encourage the withdrawal of the arrest warrants and drop its proposed UN security council resolution authorising its peacekeepers to hunt the rebel leaders. "We place a higher premium of peace and security than the sort of adversarial justice that the ICC proposes here," he said.

But the court's backers say that lifting the warrants, which were originally requested by the Ugandan government, would set a dangerous precedent.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are absolutely clear that the warrants should be effected and the countries holding the indictees must transfer them to the ICC."

But analysts such as Mr Lomo say that the involvement of a self-interested mediator such as south Sudan, which wants the rebels off its soil, means the talks offer the best chance for peace since Kony took to the bush in 1986.

Palabek Kal houses 22,000 displaced people, but some are already starting to dream about going home. For Dick Akaye, 23, that would mean just an hour's walk to his abandoned village. After his father was murdered by LRA rebels in 1997, he fled here with his mother, who died soon after. A strong rebel presence around the camps means he has never been back to his village. "I just want to go home and farm. Life here is so difficult: there is disease, not enough food and no work."

A glance around the camps proves his point. Many of the children have distended bellies and patchy hair. It is not yet midday but yellow-eyed men sit around drinking homebrew. Society has clearly been ripped apart - and people are willing to forgive the rebels just for a chance of stitching it back together.

"We are traumatised and tired," said John Okema, the camp commandant, who said most people supported amnesty for Mr Kony. "If there is a chance at peace we must take it."

The agreement signed on Saturday gives LRA troops - many of them abducted as children - three weeks to assemble at designated points in south Sudan. After disarming, they will be given food and safe passage back to northern Uganda.

Backstory

Joseph Kony took to the bush in northern Uganda in 1986. A self-styled prophet, he established the Lord's Resistance Army with the aim of "spiritually cleansing" his Acholi people and taking revenge against the government. But attacks focused on civilians. The LRA swelled its ranks by abducting children from villages, and turning them into sex slaves, porters and soldiers. Suspected government sympathisers had their ears and lips hacked off.

Attempts by the Ugandan army to rout the rebels failed, as did numerous peace negotiations. Civilians were herded into camps by the government, while tens of thousands of children - "night commuters" - sought the safety of town centres to avoid abduction. For many years the LRA received a steady supply of weapons and support from the Sudanese government. The LRA has been forced to shift its main base to Garamba national park in Congo. It remains a potent fighting force of several thousand men.

Some lorries carry weighing equipment which collect how much rubbish is collected and link the information to the appropriate bin.

Areas where the devices are said to be in use include Crewe, Nantwich, Peterborough, South Norfolk, Woking and Devizes in Wiltshire.

German firm Deister, which has a base in Spalding, Lincolnshire, is one of several firms selling the technology.

A similar controversy also emerged in Ryde, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, earlier this week.

Residents accused the local authority of acting like "Big Brother" after workers suddenly began fitting the devices to the rims of an estimated 90,000 bins.

The devices use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology which have also been used to identify objects as diverse as animals, vehicles and expensive goods.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said last night all 10 British nationals were hospitalised, four of them with serious injuries. "We have no further details in terms on the cause of the explosions or the location," it added.

It was not thought any of the Britons had suffered life-threatening injuries.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the blasts. Kurdish separatists, leftwing groups and Islamists have carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past - most recently in Adana, southern Turkey, where 13 people were injured, including five police officers, in a double bomb blast.

Witnesses in Marmaris said that at least one of the explosions appeared to be on one of the dolmuses - small vans that act as short-range buses in Turkey. One of the explosions was described as being near a fast food outlet and another near an airline office.

Danielle Pearson, a British woman holidaying in Marmaris, said the bomb she heard went off around 2am local time. "We were down the front in one of the bars and a bus exploded outside the local McDonalds," she told Sky News. "There were ambulances and police cars everywhere." Ms Pearson said the area had been busy with many tourists out enjoying themselves.

"The bomb just sounded like a gunshot," she said. "We've seen the remains of what was left ... the traffic was just going everywhere. It was really busy, a lot of people were just running everywhere. It was holiday makers walking about, people enjoying themselves."

Holidaymaker Rob Laughton was dining at Rover's Return restaurant in the centre of Marmaris with his wife Susan and friends when they heard a massive explosion. "We just saw the bus and bodies lying on the ground," he said. "We thought, we just don't want to be here. We just ran away."

Mr Laughton, 41, an assistant operations manager for a catering firm, and his wife, 46, had been on holiday in Marmaris for two-and-a-half weeks. The couple from Chiswick, west London, were staying in the Banu Beach hotel 10 minutes away from the centre of the resort where they witnessed the aftermath of the explosion. Mr Laughton said they had been only about 20 metres away from the bus.

Marmaris, a port city in south-west Turkey on the Mediterranean coast, is a popular resort town for British, west European and Russian tourists as well as Turks. The town, built around mountain slopes is also a major centre for sailing and boating.

Jill Thornton, of Consett, Co Durham, said her son Daniel, 19, had witnessed the aftermath of one of the explosions. He also told her at least one explosion took place on a bus in a busy area in the centre of Marmaris.

Mr Thornton was walking with his girlfriend Laura Stalker, 17, when he saw the explosion. His mother said he told her of reports that a second explosion had taken place on a bus travelling to the nearby fishing village of Icmeler.

"He has seen one of the buses which has blown up, but he had heard that there were three altogether," Mrs Thornton said. "He is only 19 and his girlfriend is only 17. I am panicking. His girlfriend was very upset."

Michael Grant, 39, who has been living in Marmaris for the past two and a half years, told of hearing the blasts. "They were loud, extremely loud, and then there were police and gendarmes and ambulances going to the scene," he said. "What we have heard from people coming from the area of the blasts is that it was supposed to be an attack by the PKK, the Kurdish national party.

The Foreign Office has set up a telephone helpline for concerned relatives on 020 7008 0000.

Rev Frank Chikane survived a murder attempt in the 1980s. He said he was grateful for the gesture made earlier this month by ex-minister Adriaan Vlok.

Other former detainees say Mr Vlok should have apologised personally to all victims of police abuse.

Mr Vlok testified to the post-apartheid truth commission and received amnesty.

Mr Vlok was security minister in the late 1980s, a period when emergency laws granted police sweeping powers of arrest and detention against anti-apartheid activists.

Rev Chikane, former head of the South African Council of Churches, told at the weekend how Mr Vlok had arrived at his office and given him a Bible with the words "I have sinned against the Lord and against you, please forgive me (John 13:15)" on its cover.

"He said 'I take you as a representative and an embodiment of all the other people I should be talking to,'" Rev Chikane said, quoted by the Pretoria News.

"He then asked for water ... he picked up a glass of water, opened his bag, pulled out a bowl, put the water in the bowl, took out the towel, said 'you must allow me to do this' and washed my feet in my office," Rev Chikane said.

Criticism

Mr Chikane, who was head of the South African Council of Churches during the state of emergency of the late 1980s, survived an assassination attempt when clothes impregnated with poison were placed in his suitcase while he was travelling.

Mr Vlok's symbolic apology has drawn some criticism.

Former activist Shirley Gunn, who was detained with her baby son for more than two months, described the foot-washing gesture as "provocative and insensitive".

"I still haven't got the truth out of (Mr Vlok) about what happened to me," Ms Gunn said.

"He can't just wash Frank Chikane's feet and think that that is the end of it ... he needs to apologise to his victims directly."

Current SACC General Secretary Eddie Makue commended Mr Vlok's gesture, but said it was no substitute for full disclosure.

"Many high-ranking members of the former government failed to participate unreservedly in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process," he said, quoted by the South African Press Association.

"As a result, we are left with many unanswered questions concerning responsibility for gross human rights violations during the apartheid years."

Rev Chikane is now director general of the South African president's office.