An Iranian government spokesman yesterday denied reports that Iran could agree to a short-term enrichment suspension for resumption of talks on its nuclear issue, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Gholam-Hossein Elham told a weekly press conference that any reports about Iran's possible agreement to suspend its nuclear program was a "misunderstanding."

"Iran has made no decision whatsoever to suspend enrichment," IRNA quoted Elham as saying.

However, the spokesman underlined that all issues pertinent to Iran's nuclear case "can be raised in the negotiations."

On Sept. 10, diplomats who declined to be named said after talks between senior Iranian and EU negotiators that Iran was ready to consider suspending uranium enrichment for up to two months.

Aliasghar Soltanieh, the Iranian ambassador to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has already denied that Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani had proposed suspending uranium enrichment to up to two months during the talks with Solana.

Iran refused to comply with the UN Security Council resolution1696 demanding Iran suspend by Aug. 31 all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities.

IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei has presented a report to the UN Security Council saying "Iran has continued enriching uranium despite a UN nuclear deadline for it to suspend or face possible sanctions."

At an informal meeting in Brussels earlier this month, European Union foreign ministers decided to maintain serious talks with Tehran in efforts to solve Iran's nuclear issue through diplomacy.