TEHERAN, April 9 (RIA Novosti) - Iran on Sunday called "a psychological war" a report that the U.S. was preparing for possible military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.

A report by influential journalist Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker magazine said the United States was considering using tactical nuclear weapons to destroy Iran's underground nuclear facilities.

"This is a psychological war launched by Americans because they feel desperate regarding Iran's nuclear dossier," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.

Asefi said the United States was unwilling to solve the Iran nuclear problem peacefully and was seeking to create a crisis around this issue.

Concerns about Iran's nuclear program have been growing since the Islamic Republic announced its intention to resume nuclear research in January and the country's hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, made a number of controversial remarks, including a call to wipe Israel "off the face of the map."

A number of countries have expressed alarm over Iran's controversial nuclear programs and have pushed for the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on the country, as they suspect that Tehran is using its civilian-energy programs to disguise military projects.

Russia has been at the forefront of efforts to solve the escalating crisis diplomatically. Moscow has offered to enrich Iranian uranium - a vital component in both civilian energy and military projects - in Russia. But Tehran said in March that it would enrich a small amount of the radioactive substance anyway, an announcement that was greeted with widespread condemnation.