Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said Sunday that there was no word of suspending uranium enrichment in the recent nuclear talks in Geneva, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"We can talk about common points and should not pay attention to baseless media propaganda," Qashqavi was quoted as saying.
Some western media have reported that Iran was asked to suspend its uranium enrichment activities in the high-level talks between six world powers and Iran over its controversial nuclear programs in Geneva, Switzerland, on July 19.
The talks were held between Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in the presence of U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns and senior diplomats from China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany.
Commenting on a recent report that Iran has installed up to 6,000 centrifuges and asked if that could be a sort of "confrontation with the West," Qashqavi said, "The number of centrifuges is not the case."
"This is what (Iranian) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said in his speech. It is not a question of confronting or non-confronting the West," the spokesman said.
"In less than two weeks, Iran has responded to the letters of foreign ministers of six western countries and participated in Geneva talks," Qashqavi said. "If a country was to make any confrontation, it would not act like that."
According to the website of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Ahmadinejad said Saturday that Iran now has up to 6,000 centrifuges and the west "agreed that the existing 5,000 to 6,000 centrifuges do not increase and there is no problem if this number of centrifuges work."
The United States and its allies have accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran has denied the U.S. charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2008)
