Iran said Monday its current freeze on uranium enrichment would be short-lived but insisted that its nuclear activities posed no risk to the region as claimed the United States. "The length of the suspension will not be very long and will be valid for the duration of the negotiations and only on the condition that the negotiations make progress," top nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani told Hamshahri newspaper.
"In the future we will most certainly resume enrichment, but as for how long the suspension will last is going to depend on many factors."
Iran, accused by Washington of trying to build an atomic bomb, has suspended uranium enrichment as a confidence-building measure during talks with the European Union but in a hardening of its stance the bloc now wants Tehran to commit itself to abandoning the process completely.
Enrichment is a key process that makes what can be fuel for nuclear reactors but also the explosive core of atomic bombs.
US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton, a noted hawk in President George W. Bush's administration, said Iran's nuclear programme was a major threat for Washington's allies in the Middle East.