"The issue of nuclear talks with the countries of the 5+1 is over," government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters.

The so-called 5+1 are the five permanent UN Security Council powers plus Germany, which have been seeking to persuade Iran to accept an incentives package in exchange for suspending sensitive uranium enrichment work.

The six powers have been represented by the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana who has held two years of talks with Iranian officials in a bid to end the deadlock.

Elham's comments confirm remarks made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier this month which suggested the government was strongly against any new talks between Solana and Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

"We will continue our path within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency as this is the only legal body for this issue," Elham added.

The UN Security Council two weeks ago tightened sanctions against Tehran over its refusal to heed the world body's calls to freeze uranium enrichment, a potential weapons-making process.

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