Iran denies Russian nuclear deal

Iran on Sunday denied claims that it had entered a deal with Russia to enrich uranium.

On Saturday, Iranian state radio reported that Iran and Russia had made a basic deal to enrich uranium in a joint venture.

Soltanieh said this was untrue and what was actually under discussion was in fact a last attempt at a solution for Iran’s nuclear programme.

"This discussion was merely another round of discussions with the Europeans to see or find means for peaceful settlement of the issue and of course we were well prepared, as usual how to find a solution within the framework of the IAEA, that was the agenda and that was the discussion," Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Agency (IAEA), Ali Ashghat Soltanieh told reporters.

“I said there was no discussion on the Russian deal and therefore there is no agreement. This has been maybe the misinterpretation from English to Russian or so. We have not had such a discussion," he said.

Also on Sunday, Iran announced that it was using an older style of centrifuge and has refrained from using a newer style which would enable it to enrich uranium at a much faster rate.

"So far, we have never used P-2 centrifuges, and what we have used is P-1 machines. We have informed the agency (IAEA) about that," ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters at a weekly news conference.