The German magazine Der Spiegel had quoted Musharraf as saying that "They (Iran) are very anxious to have the bomb."

Pakistan's foreign office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said the president had been misquoted and that he had not made the remark, reports Online news agency. 

However, Jilani confirmed that Musharraf had told the magazine that he did not know how to stop Iran from developing a military nuclear programme. Iran had demanded a clarification after the magazine carried the comments Saturday.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Sunday it was "very unlikely that Musharraf said such a thing, because he knows better".

"I would say there was a distortion and it is unlikely that such comments were made. We hope the Pakistanis explain that this report was distorted," said Asefi.

Iran has been under an international nuclear investigation for two years and maintains that its programme is for peaceful purposes.

"It is not the business of other countries to comment in this regard. It is up to us to say what we are seeking and not seeking. We are insisting we are not seeking such weapons," said Asefi.

In the Der Spiegel article, Musharraf was also quoted as saying that a US attack to stop Iran developing nuclear arms would be "a disaster".

"That would provoke a rebellion in the Muslim world," he was quoted as saying. "Why open up new fronts?"

Pakistan has been closely linked to Iran's alleged nuclear programme since the revelation that disgraced Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan illegally transferred nuclear technology to Iran and other countries.

Islamabad recently sent parts of its nuclear centrifuges to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna as part of the two-year investigation into whether Iran has been trying to build an atomic bomb.

The IAEA wants to check whether Khan illegally supplied traces of enriched uranium found at an Iranian nuclear site in 2003. The IAEA investigation has found no proof that Iran plans to build nuclear weapons but has also been unable to confirm that the programme is entirely peaceful.

The US has accused Iran, a state already rich in gas and oil, of pursuing atomic energy as a screen to develop nuclear weapons.