TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) – Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Hamidreza Asefi said on Sunday that there has been no talk of stopping nuclear enrichment program in the Tehran Declaration, saying that suspension of nuclear enrichment was a voluntary and temporary decision by Iran.

Enriching uranium is Iran’s absolute right and therefore there is no talk of stopping it, Asefi told a regular press briefing.

Asefi was responding to a statement by his French counterpart Herve Ladsous who said on Thursday in Washington that Paris wants Tehran to permanently freeze experiments to make enriched uranium.

Asefi said that Iran has suspended enriching uranium in order to prove its goodwill and allay international concerns about its peaceful nuclear program.

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded in a recent report that it had seen "no evidence" Iran did have a covert nuclear program.

Iran agreed on Oct. 21 after talks with France, Britain and Germany to allow snap inspections of its nuclear sites and suspend uranium enrichment.

As a signer of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, Iran is permitted to have a civilian nuclear energy program. SM/SM End MNA