Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi Wednesday dismissed a British newspaper report that Iran was running short of raw uranium for its nuclear program.

"Such news reports were just speculation... and have no scientific basis," Qashqavi told a press conference when asked about the report of The Times.

In the report on Jan. 24, The Times quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Iran was running short of "the raw material required to manufacture nuclear weapons."

The sources were quoted as saying that Iran's stockpile of yellow cake uranium, produced from uranium ore, was close to running out and could be exhausted within months.

Countries including Britain, the United States, France and Germany had started intensive diplomatic efforts to dissuade major uranium producers from selling to Iran, they said.

The United States and its allies have accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran has denied the U.S. charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2009)