The United States on Monday dismissed Iran's plans to hold a nuclear disarmament conference, saying it needed only to "look in the mirror" if it was serious about the issue.

Iran announced Sunday it would hold a disarmament conference days after next week's nuclear security summit in Washington and said China, which has resisted new sanctions against the Islamic regime, would attend.

"If Iran is interested in strengthening the non-proliferation regime, it can start by looking in the mirror," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

"There are specific actions that Iran needs to take and has failed to take which have brought us to the point where we need to evaluate potential sanctions," Crowley said.

"If Iran really has an earnest interest in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, it can start by reassuring the international community about its intentions."

Iran has been under mounting global pressure to abandon its nuclear program, with Western powers fearing it wants to build an atomic bomb. Tehran says the program is peaceful and only meant to produce energy.

Iran said it would hold the conference called "Nuclear Energy For All, Nuclear Weapons For No-one" on April 17-18.

It would follow the April 12-13 nuclear summit in Washington to which US President Barack Obama has invited leaders of most of the world's major powers.