Tehran - Tehran on Tuesday rejected any comparison of its nuclear programmes with North Korea, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"The Iranian nuclear programmes have a peaceful nature and any comparison in this regard is simply wrong," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said.

The spokesman was referring to North Korea's decision to destroy a cooling tower at its Yongbyon plant in a move to show it would dismantle its controversial programme.

There has been speculation that Iran could be pushed by the West towards such a compromise.

"All Iran's nuclear projects are peaceful, under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and in line with Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Hence there should be no illogical comparison with countries which do not have such a status," Hosseini said.

Despite three United Nations Security Council resolutions, including financial sanctions, and last week's decision by the European Union to freeze the overseas assets of the Iranian state-run bank, Iran is still refusing to stop enriching uranium.

The ISNA news agency on Monday quoted Iranian parliament deputies as saying that Iran would resume nuclear talks next week with Western representatives.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana last month delivered an upgraded package of incentives to Tehran in an effort to persuade it to suspend uranium enrichment.

Although Iran has not yet replied to the package, the main demand from the West for enrichment suspension has already been rejected by leading Iranian officials. (dpa)