Iran said on Sunday it was a ‘‘big mistake’’ for the US and its allies to think the UN Security Council will be able to force Tehran to give up uranium enrichment, but it insisted it was open to negotiations over its nuclear programme.

The comments by Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi came as a team from the UN nuclear watchdog agency were in Iran to inspect its facilities for uranium enrichment and uranium reprocessing, a visit Iran hopes will boost its case that its intentions are peaceful.

The UN Security Council has demanded that Iran suspend all enrichment of uranium—a key process that can produce either fuel for a reactor or the material for a nuclear warhead—and gave Tehran until April 28 to comply before the International Atomic Energy Agency reports back to the council on its progress.

“If they (the US and its European allies) think referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council makes Iran to give up its rights, they have made a big mistake,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters on Sunday.

ALI AKBAR DAREINI