TEHRAN, April 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Iran on Wednesday strongly rejected a report on its alleged smuggling of uranium to other countries, the official IRNA news agency reported.

    "Such a claim is not true. Our nuclear activities are transparent and under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi was quoted as saying.

    "Iran seeks nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, and it will be meaningless for Iran to smuggle and enrich uranium in other states," Asefi said.

    "Western media released such news in the past, but their claims were proved baseless later," Asefi added.

    Reports emerged lately that the IAEA was making an inventory of processed uranium in Iran amid concerns that inconsistency in the tally could mean Tehran secretly shifted some uranium out of its nuclear facility.

    Tehran was also accused by some intelligence agencies of spiriting away processed uranium to an unknown location, which could be processed further and enriched to make a bomb.

    Iran, accused by the United States of developing nuclear weapons covertly, has vehemently rejected the charge and insisted its nuclear activities are fully peaceful.

    In order to "build confidence", Tehran has suspended the sensitive uranium enrichment "temporarily and voluntarily". Enditem