Iran, under renewed pressure to prove it is not seeking an atomic bomb, said today it had no clandestine nuclear sites hidden from UN inspectors.
A group of Western diplomats who follow the UN nuclear watchdog said recent intelligence provoked suspicion Tehran had not stopped enriching uranium but moved enrichment activities to smaller sites out of the United Nations' view.
"There is no nuclear centre in Iran which we have hidden from inspectors," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mr Hamid Reza Asefi told a news conference.
Iran promised Britain, France and Germany last October it would suspend uranium enrichment and accept snap atomic checks.
If enriched to a low level, uranium can be used to fuel nuclear power stations. But if enriched further, to weapons-grade, it can be deployed in warheads.
The United States accuses Tehran of pursuing a nuclear weapons programme but Iran insists its ambitions are confined to fuelling power stations to generate electricity.
Last month, the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), passed a resolution deploring Iran's failure to declare potentially arms-related activities.
Iran's omissions of key atomic technology from an October resolution included undeclared research on advanced "P2" centrifuges that can make bomb-grade uranium.
IAEA chief Dr Mohamed ElBaradei is due to arrive in the Islamic Republic on Tuesday for talks with senior Iranian officials.
Iran initially blocked IAEA inspectors after last month's toughly-worded UN resolution but Mr Asefi said a further team of inspectors would arrive in Iran in two weeks.