A senior military commander, General Mir-Faisal Bagherzadeh, said the decision has been approved by Iran's armed forces headquarters.

"We will dig 15,000 to 20,000 graves in each of the border provinces," he said.

"We do not wish the families of enemy soldiers to experience what Americans had to go through in the aftermath of the Vietnam War," added Baqerzadeh, who is also the head of the search committee for missing soldiers.

"The burial of slain soldiers will be carried out decently and in little time."

Bagherzadeh added that the move is in line with the Iran's commitment to " comply with the Geneva Convention and the additional protocol regarding wartime cooperation between Iran and the Red Cross".

His comments come as the US and Israel continue to not rule out military force to destroy what they believe is an effort by Iran to build nuclear weapons.

Two weeks ago, the New York Times reported that Israel mounted a major long-range military air exercise – involving more than 100 F15 and F16 fighters – as a rehearsal for a potential strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.