Iran yesterday sought to quell speculation that it was about to bow to inter­national demands for a ­suspension of its nuclear programme, insisting that the more conciliatory tone adopted in remarks in recent weeks did not amount to a surrender.

Two days after Ali-Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said Tehran should consider ­taking up aspects of an offer made by world powers last month, he appeared on television to clarify the interview he had given to a local newspaper.