January 17, 2006 -- TEHRAN — Iran yesterday banned CNN journalists from working in the country after the network misquoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying Iran wanted nuclear weapons, the ISNA students news agency said.

CNN's simultaneous translation of Ahmadinejad's lengthy news conference Saturday included the phrase "the use of nuclear weapons is Iran's right."

In fact, what the Iranian president said was that "Iran has the right to nuclear energy," the official IRNA news agency reported. CNN later clarified in an apology Sunday.

Iran denies any intention of seeking nuclear weapons, saying it wants atomic technology merely for the generation of electricity. Post Wire Services