The West's stand-off with Iran over its contested nuclear programme is like "the height of the Cold War", Britain's most senior naval officer said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph published on Monday.

Commodore Keith Winstanley's comments come ahead of a meeting of the UN Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany, who will discuss more possible punitive measures against Iran, after imposing sanctions on the country late last year.

"There are extra challenges facing us," Winstanley told the newspaper.

"There have been a series of Iranian exercises in the northern Gulf to the point that it's a bit like with the Russians at the height of the Cold War.

"We just have to hope that's not a recipe for miscalculation," he was quoted as saying by the Telegraph.

On Sunday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defied Western threats to impose more sanctions, saying that Iran's atomic drive was like a "train with no brakes".

Winstanley told the newspaper that Britain has nearly doubled its naval deployments in the region since October, saying: "If you look at the UK component we have almost doubled it ... Most of these ships are here on training missions but there is no doubt that we could use the warfighting capabilities they possess."